Roman Roulette
by Travis Jameson
Summary: "Yeah, you mentioned this demigod thing earlier," Percy interrupted skeptically. "Is this, like, a LARPer compound or something? 'Cause I'm not really into the whole creative anachronism thing." Set after TLH. NOTICE: Sequel up for Adoption
1. Prologue & Chapter 1 Percy

**Post Completion A/N: This story is set after 'The Lost Hero' and was originally a concept piece for what I thought might happen in 'The Son of Neptune'. Now it's grown into a monster all its own with a sequel to boot. **

**I have rated this T for good reason. There is adult language and some more mature themes as the story progresses. There's nothing that would warrant a higher rating, but I just wanted to let you know before you start reading and get offended.**

**Anywho, now that that's out of the way, please note that I do not own PJO or THO, they belong to Rick Riordan. Nor do I own the phrase 'Roman Roulette' which is a trademarked board game by Zibb; I'm just using the name as a good title for a work of fanfiction that I in no way will ever be paid for. The narrative and any characters I create are mine though, so be kind and don't copy. Please read and review. I really want to know what you think.**

_Prologue_

_Just a few more minutes_, she thought with a bitter sense of triumph. _Some damn triumph. Takes me weeks just to work myself up to this pittance._

She sat cross-legged on the floor of her earthen prison, eyes closed and still as stone. In fact, she hadn't stirred in nearly a month, but what was one month among eons? She was vaguely aware of her lupine jailor pacing agitatedly along the rim of the large reflecting pool. She could sense his annoyance and fear that she had not so much as twitched an eye or shifted a finger during the entire course of his watch. She allowed herself a brief mental smirk that just by sitting there, she was able to cause such nervousness and anxiety. As she let her concentration falter, she felt her strength quickly begin to ebb. With a silent curse, she forced herself back into strict focus. That microsecond lapse had probably cost her an hour's strength. She couldn't believe how strong that she-devil was. It certainly didn't help that she had to sit on and was surrounded by earth.

Fortunately, she hadn't wasted as much energy as she feared. She was ready to release her power after only a few short minutes. For the first time in a month, she allowed her consciousness to flow out. As much as she, like all of her family, detested the need for them, she reached out to the two demigods who would save her, save all of them if she was right. And she had to be right. She knew why she was here, could sense the horrifying presence growing less than 200 feet away. She knew she couldn't prevent his awakening, she could still see that much. But no one, not even one such as she could see to end of a Great Prophecy. Nor could her family fulfill that prophecy without their children, even her shortsighted ass of a husband's children. And so she broke her oath, and brought two dreamers who should never have met together to propose a quest.

_Chapter 1_

_Percy_

"Shit, we're about to break curfew! The harpies will be out for blood in a few minutes," Percy exclaimed. He and Annabeth were sitting under the moonlight on the beach overlooking Long Island Sound. Percy had been showboating for his beautiful girlfriend by forming aqueous replicas of her and himself and having them dance over the starlit waves. That was before Annabeth had made him lose his concentration by moving into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him with no apparent intention of ever stopping. Percy had opened his eyes briefly during this exchange and said a silent prayer of thanks to Lady Artemis for the way the moon shone off the water and made Annabeth's magnificent blonde hair shine like silver. The irony of that prayer made Percy smile because he wasn't feeling very chaste at that moment.

His smile had made Annabeth pull away, "What's so funny, Seaweed Brain?" she'd admonished him with a glint of steel and a half-faked slap. Percy had raised his arms to fend off his vicious girlfriend, which is when he noticed the time on his new watch. Annabeth had gotten it for him as a belated birthday present a few months ago. Sadly, it did not house a magical shield, but it was pretty good at telling time. And right now it was telling him, they had about 5 minutes to get back to their cabins before they became mythological chicken feed…or at least until Annabeth did. The harpies didn't have much of a chance to hurt him in any way, at least not physically since he'd done an Achilles triple-gainer with a double twist. Though he was pretty sure if anything happened to Annabeth, it would be worse than any personal bodily damage he could envision. Hence the sudden profanity followed by a quick dash back to the cabins.

"I missed you, Wise Girl," Percy breathed when they had reached the doors to the Athena cabin.

"I've only been 30 minutes away all semester, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth smiled.

"Yeah, but you've been so busy with Olympus, and I've been concentrating on not embarrassing my step-dad by blowing up his school, it seems like we haven't had time to really connect until tonight."

"Well," she exhaled as she leaned in close, "we've got three weeks to catch up with no distractions. Goodnight, Percy." She kissed him again, and he was left standing in the fresh night air for another few moments while he tried to remember who he was. He loved the feeling and wanted it to last forever. Just goes to show the old saying is right, be careful what you wish for.

He heard a screech in the distance that brought him out of his reverie, and he sprinted down the row of cabins toward his own. As he entered, safely unnoticed by the feathery security patrol, he wished Tyson could have spent the winter break at Camp Half-Blood. He'd only been back since 9 o'clock that morning, but he'd already seen most of his friends. He'd played a volleyball match with his best friend Grover and his girlfriend Juniper against some of the Apollo kids. Will Solace was so short it almost seemed criminal to play against him at the net, especially against Grover with his goat-enhanced vertical. His sword training with Clarisse, daughter of Ares, was mostly friendly. She got really frustrated after her fourth training spear broke against his skin and stormed off muttering something about nuclear weapons.

He'd had an exhilarating ride on Blackjack, who was a little bit too enthusiastic to see him again. Percy was surprised when he looked in the mirror and his hair _wasn't_ standing on end. Even Nico, son of Hades, had dropped by camp to say hello. He wasn't really one for normal camp activities so they'd gone on a short monster hunt in the woods. It was a pretty lackluster hunt, since all the monsters were afraid of Nico and his Stygian iron soul-reaping sword.

Tyson, Percy's Cyclops half-brother, was the only person he hadn't seen. He wished he hadn't destroyed the salt-water fountain that used to be in the corner. He would've liked to send Tyson an Iris message. But since he had no means of producing a rainbow and it was pretty late, Percy decided bed was his best option until the morning. Unfortunately, the morning would offer no possibilities or desire for filial communication.

As soon as Percy's head hit the pillow, he knew his dreams had been hi-jacked. He'd been hoping for some nice dreams of various non-camp sanctioned activities with Annabeth. Instead, the woman he saw when he dropped off was probably the last person he ever wanted to see.

"What the Hades do you want?" Percy spat as he turned his back on his vision.

"Show some respect, maggot." This statement gave Percy pause, not because he didn't expect the words, but the voice that said them was definitely male. Percy spun around to see that his dream contained a third person. The kid was tall with short blonde hair, startlingly blue eyes and small scar on his upper lip. He looked maybe a year younger than Percy and had those chiseled features that tended to turn the Aphrodite girls to mush. Percy didn't like him.

"Who're you callin' a maggot, pretty boy?" Percy turned, "Who the hell is this guy?"

The other kid stalked toward Percy menacingly. "I am a Child of Rome, Praetor of the First Legion, Slayer of the Titan Krios. I am Jason Grace, son of Jupiter, and you, insignificant mortal, will show respect and kneel before Lady Juno." He was right up in Percy's face at that point, and Percy was glad to see the kid, Jason, was slightly shorter than him.

"Well, mister 'Child of Rome'," Percy retorted, "I don't know who you're calling insignificant, and don't get me wrong, I'm happier than a pig in shit Krios is dead, but I'm Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, savior of Olympus, bearer of the sky, bane of Hyperion, disperser of Kronos." Okay, so Percy was still working on that moniker, killer or slayer didn't really work because a) he hadn't exactly done the deed, Luke had and b) Kronos wasn't really dead…anyway. "And if you think for one second that I'm going to kneel to this woman, Jason Gra-…Grace?" Percy faltered. "Did you say your name was Grace?"

"Yes, what of it?" Jason seemed just as taken aback as Percy.

"Well, I guess it's probably nothing. I guess Grace is a common enough last name. Probably just coincidence." Percy was lost in thought for a minute, then something else this Jason character had said registered. "Did you call her Juno?" as he pointed toward the Queen of the Gods. "And who did you say your father was? Jupiter?"

"Yes, this is Juno, Goddess of Marriage and Battle, and my father is her husband, Jupiter, King of the Gods," Jason boasted without thinking. He looked stricken for a moment, then turned and kneeled to Hera, "I'm sorry my lady, Queen. I meant no offense. I know you are understandably not fond of the mortal offspring of your lord husband. Please forgive me."

"Are you boys, quite finished?" Hera sounded exasperated.

_Well, who cares_, Percy thought. _She's a bitch anyway._

"I heard that, Mr. Jackson." Hera admonished. "Now please, both of you must calm down and listen to what I have to offer you."


	2. Chapter 2 Percy

_Chapter 2_

_Percy_

He woke up cold and shivering, curled in the fetal position. He looked around bleary-eyed trying to take in his surroundings, but the darkness enveloped him like a blanket. Something had awakened him, but he couldn't remember…anything. As the fog of sleep lifted, a deeper miasma of longing fell upon him. _Where am I? How did I get here?_ _Who am I? _He was pretty sure that if he could remember anything, he would be able to tell he'd never felt so helpless as he did in that moment of realization. He started to shake, as he knew a brief moment of absolute panic, before a kind of instinct seemed to take over and he stilled. He opened his senses fully, taking in all the information they would give him. So he couldn't recall anything about himself or this place, fine. _If I have no _a priori_ knowledge, _a posteriori_ would just have to do._

"_A priori_?" he whispered into the darkness. "How do I know what that means and that I just contradicted myself?" He was pretty sure the two phrases were Latin, but he didn't know where he'd ever learned Latin. Well that was something at any rate. He obviously remembered how to think and speak. He started to feel more confident, thinking that if he could communicate, he'd find a way to get by. That small confidence was shattered in the next moment as he became aware that he was hearing something. Something large, very close, and ominous.

Slowly, the boy stood up and took a defensive posture as he realized, what he was hearing was breathing. The breathing was slow and steady, like the source was sleeping. As he listened, his eyes began to adjust to the dimness. He realized there was a faint light here, but what he saw was not reassuring. He seemed to be in a cavern of some sort. He couldn't see the ceiling, but he recognized the floor to be rock mixed with a dusty clay. He bent down and grabbed a pinch of the loose earth and tested it with his tongue. The earth had a faintly metallic flavor, and though there was no color to be seen in this underground twilight, he knew the walls of this cavern were likely a rusty red color. He was glad he still remembered what iron rich soil looked and tasted like. It gave him a bit more confidence. If only he could remember something human…

He put the thought aside and focused on whatever it was that was generating the breathing sound. He took a few steps along the edge of the cavern, with his right hand on the wall. As his hand passed over certain spots, the breathing faltered slightly. But as soon as he moved on, the regular deep rhythm returned. The panic began to return, as he realized the enormity of the creature that had been sleeping in the cave with him. As he backed quickly away from the wall, he bumped into something…something warm, soft and furry.

"Holy crapsticks!" he yelped and swiveled around coming face to face to a creature equally as terrifying whatever was in here sleeping, mostly because it definitely was not sleeping and was snarling with what the boy could only assume was affront. He couldn't see well enough to tell exactly what he was facing, but what he could see looked vaguely canine. The canine's growl increased and the boy felt his knees begin to shake. He willed his traitorous legs to still themselves as he faced down his likely death. Suddenly, the creature relaxed and seemed to bark out a laugh.

"Well, that's a new one." The creature chortled. "I've been called many things in my time, but 'crapsticks' has never been one of them." The boy wasn't sure what was more surprising, that he wasn't dead, or that this creature could talk. He could tell the voice was female, but before he could respond, the mirth left the face of his confronter. "Follow me, youngling. The one who slumbers here cannot hurt you while you are waking."

With that, the creature turned and began to walk across the open cavern. The boy hurried to follow. As they approached the opposite wall, the light began to grow, and he could see that what he was following was an enormous wolf. At least, that's what it seemed like at first. Its form seemed to shift between wolf and something humanoid…some sort of spirit. When they eventually reached the opposite wall, they entered a corridor that seemed much too small for him to squeeze through, let alone his wolf guide. Yet she disappeared into the passage without so much as a backward glance or pause. He had no choice but to follow. He realized the wolf was muttering to herself as they walked.

"…don't understand why she put him all the way down here. Foolish," she mumbled. He had no idea what the wolf was talking about, but it sounded like he hadn't just randomly wandered into the lair of some sleeping colossus to take a nap.

"What do you mean? Who put me in that cave? Why would they do that? Who are you? Do you know me? Why-…"

"Silence!" the wolf yelped. "This is neither the time nor place, nor am I hear to answer your questions. My task is to test you." She continued on her way.

_Test me?_ The boy thought. _What kind of test? God, I hope it's not geometry. I can't remember much, but I'm pretty sure I suck at geometry._ He held his questions until they emerged from the corridor into another cave. This new space could not have been more different from the cavern they had come from. This cave looked like a home. Not that it was furnished with couches or an entertainment center or anything, it just felt lived in, and the light was much brighter. He didn't need to ask to know that this was the wolf's den. He turned around and dropped his jaw to see a smooth, unbroken stone wall where they had just emerged.

"How the—? What—?" he spluttered and turned to face the wolf again. The look on her face quelled his questions and his voice died in his throat. He could now see that she had a salt-and-pepper coat and stood nearly as tall his shoulders. Now that she was in proper light, she no longer seemed to shift form. Her bulk easily outweighed him, and he knew there was no escaping or defeating this opponent. He knew finally that she was an opponent when he finally looked in her eyes. There didn't seem to be any warmth hidden in those deep brown, almost black eyes. He started to think that he'd just imagined her laughing at his epithet in the other cave…if there even was another cave. He was still trying to deal with the whole earth-closing-on-its-own thing he'd just witnessed.

"I am Lupa, mother of Rome," the wolf stated simply.

"Luph?" he blanched, backing away. Now he was afraid. He wished he knew why that name seemed to cause him such…pain.*

The wolf cocked her head thoughtfully, and for a brief moment her form flickered again to the spirit he had seen in the tunnel. "I have not been known by that name in eons. That is not my personification any longer, though by the end my tests you may not believe that," she smirked, if a wolf can smirk.

"Please, before you test me or whatever, do you know who I am? I can't seem to remember…" The boy said.

"Why should I bother to tell you if you might be dying today? What is the use of regaining knowledge you will just lose again?" The wolf inquired. Somehow he knew this was the beginning of his test. He thought for a long moment be for cautiously answering.

"Without knowing of who I am, I have no knowledge of why I am about to die. Ignorance breeds fear, and fear debilitates. If I am to stand a chance at life, it must be done without fear."

"Well spoken, Perseus Jackson," Lupa acknowledged. Perseus…no, Percy Jackson. The name settled on him like a favorite t-shirt. He didn't gain any other memories from the knowledge, but he knew that what he had said was true. He felt much of his fear dissipate.

"Thank you, Madame Lupa," Percy bowed. "So what's my next trial?" The wolf stood and crouched low, like she was about to pounce. Slowly she circled around so she was between him and the back wall. She smiled her wolfish grin.

"Run."

Percy turned toward the entrance and fled for his life. He was halfway down the tunnel before he heard Lupa start after him. He knew he was doomed. There was no way he could outrun a giant ethereal she-wolf. Plus he had no idea what to expect when he emerged from the den. Was he running straight for a cliff or maybe he'd exit the cave into the middle of a busy city street. After what he'd seen the wall of the cave do, he was ready to believe anything. But regardless what he prepared himself for, it was not enough.

As he broke out of the cave, he appeared to be in a house, or what was left of one at any rate. He bolted, looking for any exit out of the house. He could hear the wolf gaining quickly. He burst out of a doorway into broad daylight and nearly fainted from double sources of pain. The sun was shining directly into his darkness adjusted eyes, and as he spared a haloed glance at the property on which the house was standing, his head split open with the inrush of a memory.

_Percy finally seemed to notice his surroundings, though there wasn't much he could see. The space was rather small, with an earthen floor. The walls were sloped to a point at the ceiling like the interior of a pyramid…no, more like a cone since the walls were curved. Percy could also see strips of dim light filtering through cracks in the enclosure. He realized the walls were made of thick vines or spires of rock, he couldn't tell which in the darkness, that were twisting together at the apex to form a kind of natural prison cell._

"_Where is this place, Lady Juno?" the other boy asked. Apparently, he'd taken time to take stock of the situation as well._

"_Jason, you know where this prison lies." Hera pointed toward one section of the wall, indicating that Jason should look through the gap at something. Curiosity got the better of Percy, and he followed the annoying kid to see what was beyond the bars. Percy saw the ruins of an enormous house with two wings jutting out to enclose the depression in which the cage was implanted. The depression was long and rectangular, like a very shallow pool. If it had had water in it, Percy thought it might have looked like the reflecting pool beneath the Washington Monument in D.C. To Percy, the ruined structure seemed unremarkable, but Jason obviously seemed to attach some serious significance to the place. His face drained of color and his jaw tightened like he was remembering a horrible experience._

"_Why are you in this place, my lady, and what is this cage?" Jason inquired. His voice shook, but Percy thought it was more out of anger than fear. Though Percy had no idea where they were, he was definitely intrigued by the prison, so he held his tongue and let Hera answer._

"_I have been captured and imprisoned here through my own folly. This is a prison of earth, which I cannot escape on my own. It drains my power for the purpose of starting a war." She replied rather nonchalantly. As if the destruction of the Queen of the Gods and the start of another war were as tragic a situation as stepping on a friend's glasses._

"_Drains your power? Imprisoned? You're a goddess, why can't you just bust out of here? These vines don't look too strong to me…for a goddess anyway." Percy questioned._

"_Avert your eyes," Hera ordered, and Percy had just enough time to look away before Hera revealed her true form and went nuclear to blow this crappy cage to Timbuktu._

When Percy opened his eyes, he was back in the morning sunlight. The double pain of sunlight and memory had brought him to his knees. A sudden shadow loomed over him before he had time to resume his flight.

"Not good enough, whelp. Not nearly."

* * *

_**a priori**_** knowledge: known beforehand or inherently**

**_a posteriori_ knowledge: learned through experience  
**

***Luph or Lupe: ancient Greek spirit of pain and grief.**


	3. Chapter 3  Percy

_Chapter 3_

_Percy_

He felt like he'd been running for longer than he could remember. Of course in his case, that cliché was rather close to the truth. He'd come out of his memory-induced disorientation with Lupa standing menacingly over him ready to strike. As he'd looked up at her, she growled and spoke, "Not good enough, whelp. Not nearly." She reared to snap his face off, when instinct had taken over. Since he was already on one knee, he'd launched into a backwards open hand-spring, using his momentum to land a stunning kick to Lupa's jaw. She'd dropped back, apparently stunned that anyone would dare strike her, and Percy had landed on his feet, turned and ran without a backward glance.

_How the hell did I do that?_ was Percy's first thought, followed closely by, _Who gives a shit? Run!_ And he had. He ran down the drive to the house and passed a restaurant and what looked like a museum. He guessed this ruined house was some sort of historic landmark. With a giant talking blood-thirsty wolf chasing him, Percy didn't really feel like stopping to educate himself on the—the Wolf House, the placard at the entrance said. _Cute_, Percy thought, _very frickin' cute_.

He ran out onto the main road and found himself in a quiet little town. He saw lots of boutique stores and hide-away bed-and-breakfasts and realized this must be a pretty popular tourist town in the summer. He was glad it was winter though since it meant there were no groups of tourists with huge over-technologized cameras taking HD pictures and movies of his flight of abject terror to post on the internet.

He was barreling down the main street when he was brought up short by a man standing right in front of him, obviously trying to block him. Percy stopped and frantically looked behind him, but he couldn't see Lupa anywhere. Maybe this guy had frightened her off, but Percy thought it was more likely he had something to do with these "tests" the wolf was putting him up to.

The man in front of him did not appear to be very old, maybe 18 or 19. He was wearing ripped up jeans with a leather jacket over a black t-shirt. His long hair was tied back with a bandana, and his belt held a rather gruesome looking knife. He seemed like any other punk to Percy until he looked in the guy's eyes. They were bright orange-red, and they seemed vaguely familiar. Percy looked away from those eyes, hoping to avoid another migraine. It didn't help when the dude spoke.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," he smirked, his eyes dancing a bit like flames. "This is priceless."

"Um, dude? You mind getting out of my way? I'm kind of in deep shit here," Percy requested, still trying to avoid his gaze. Somehow, he knew he shouldn't look this guy in the face.

"Ha! I'll say you are," the punk laughed evilly. "I told you, I'd be seeing you again, Percy. I never dreamed it would be so soon. It's like the best Christmas present a dude could hope for."

"Huh?" Percy philosophized.

"Oh, come on, man? Don't you remember you're old pal, Phobos?" The guy seemed to know who he was. Percy couldn't help it, he looked up, and as soon as their eyes connected, he knew his hunch about looking at Phobos' face had been right. Percy's surroundings dissolved before his eyes, and a series of images seemed to flash in front of him. The first was tantalizingly familiar and definitely reminded him of the flame-eyed punk but otherwise didn't really mean much to him.

He was standing in a sparsely wooded area with several buildings scattered around, all of them in flames. There were kids all around him, begging for him to save them, but Percy didn't recognize them or the place. He didn't understand why he should be responsible for saving all these people. There was one girl right at his feet who looked more earnest than the others. She had wavy blonde hair and fierce grey eyes and she was very pretty. Percy felt like he should know someone who looked at him with such a trusting face, but there was no flash of recognition.

The scene shifted to a plush room with a stunning view of a large park in the middle of a city, New York, he thought. He was sitting next to the bed on which the same girl was lying obviously sick or wounded. Again she looked at him with those intense grey eyes full of trust that he would see her through whatever plight she faced. It pained him that he couldn't remember this girl who obviously thought he was very important, but try as he might no memories arose. He felt weakened in some way, but it wasn't physical or mental.

The scene shifted several more times, and Percy got the feeling that this Phobos character was searching for something, and having a tough job of it too. Finally, reality shone through once more, and Percy was staring at the guy who was obviously very annoyed. He had his knife in hand and looked murderous.

"What the fuck, punk!" Phobos spat. "What's the point of me being here if you can't remember anything you're supposed to be afraid of?"

"What do you mean?" Percy queried. "Who are you? I feel like I should know you."

"Gyahh! I'm Phobos, asshole! God of Fear," he yelled, now about two inches from Percy's face. "It's my job to make you afraid, weak with fear. But nooooo! You don't have any memories." One thing Percy hadn't forgotten…sarcasm. Phobos brought his knife up in the small space between their faces. "Well, I guess I'll just have to do it the old fashioned way. Maybe I'll just gut you right here and be done with you." They faced off for a few more seconds, but unfortunately, Percy blinked first.

In the space of time it took Percy to blink, Phobos had him on his back with the knife at his throat. Ok, now Percy was frightened, but once again his instinct took over. Phobos was having a moment of overconfidence, so Percy took advantage by quickly rolling to his right out from under the knife. As he did so, he felt the knife scrape lightly across his neck but he didn't really feel any pain. When he was free, he swiveled a bit on his back like a break-dancer and scissored his legs around Phobos' wrist. The knife skittered across the street as Phobos cursed. They both leapt for the knife, and Percy got lucky snatching it up just before the god of fear could grasp it. He looked at the knife and noticed it was made of bronze rather than steel. _A bit archaic, but I guess it will get the job done, _he thought.

Phobos didn't seem to be afraid of the knife and lunged at Percy, who sidestepped quickly and slashed the knife upward across the god's arm. He did not expect what he saw next. Instead of red blood, the gash he had made on Phobos' arm was oozing a golden shining liquid. The fear monger barely seemed to notice and charged in once again. Percy decided offense was a good strategy here, and charged ahead as well. As they closed, Percy faked an overhand strike, then ducked in low for a jab. Phobos bought it all the way, and in a flash, the knife was buried up to the hilt in the god's abdomen. Some of the golden blood washed over Percy's fingers and he recoiled from the knife hilt. His fingers felt like they were on fire.

Phobos finally seemed to feel his injuries and backed away, kneeling on the ground. "This isn't over, punk," he wheezed. "I'll wait, fear is patient, and once it worms into your heart, it can call anytime and cripple you. Beware hero." With that, he vanished.

Percy looked around, but still found no sign of the wolf. He realized that his hands still felt aflame. He looked down at them, but found that his fingers were not, in fact melting off. They were bright red and somewhat swollen however. Next he checked his neck. It didn't hurt, but when he brought his hand away from where the knife had scraped him, they were red with blood. It wasn't a deep cut, but Percy was surprised anyway. Not surprised that he wasn't dead, but rather that he had been injured at all. Something tugged at his memory telling him this couldn't be happening. He searched for the memory but all he got was a vague image of ghosts and a massive headache.

Well, the cut wasn't deep and he figured he wasn't going to die from it so Percy continued on his way. As he didn't sense Lupa bearing down on him, he walked down the street rather than run. He'd made it about two blocks before a black van with no windows screeched to a halt right next to him. The sliding door opened and two kids about his own age grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him in. The last thing he remembered before they rapped him on the back of the head, was that the kids were wearing full battle armor. Then everything went black.

He regained consciousness to the sound of lowered but contentious voices. "Well, he passed the first two trials, and they were harder than most kids get," a girl's voice, low and mellow—pretty sexy actually—stated. He was lying on the floor of the van, his hands and feet were bound with zip ties, and there was a gag in his mouth. He didn't want to open his eyes in case they noticed him, but they were definitely moving. Percy could feel the gentle sway and rhythmic bump of the van crossing a bridge.

"Yeah, but look how old he is, Gwen! There's no way he's unclaimed and untrained, the tests should have been harder. Lupa's being too soft on this tard," a boy argued. His voice was high pitched and wild sounding.

"Oh, like you're one to talk, Bobby," another girl's voice retorted. "You've been with the Army for six years and you're still undetermined." Her voice had a kind of mystical, breathy quality to it—also pretty attractive sounding to Percy. He had no idea what they were talking about being claimed or determined, but he kept listening.

"Watch it, Rey," the boy sounded offended. "I know we're friends and all, but…"

"Oh, calm down, Bobs," the first girl, Gwen soothed. "She was just pointing out a flaw in your logic. That's part of our training too. Not that you would know since you're never in philosophy class."

"I'm always there, Gwen…in spirit at least. And don't call me, Bobs. I hate that fucking nickname," Bobby snarled.

"Keep your panties on, Bobby. What crawled up your ass today anyway?" the second girl asked. Percy didn't think Rey was her full name.

"I just don't get why we had to come all the way the fuck up here to pick up this sack of crap. He's old for demigod and looks pretty soft, maybe a good trial for him would've been to walk all the way to the base," Bobby answered.

"Bobby, that's 60 miles, and it's winter!" Gwen exclaimed.

"Winter, pfffftt. Californians don't know what winter is. Beside, he could have cut out twenty miles if he'd swum across San Pablo Bay," Bobby sulked. Oddly enough, Percy kind of agreed with Bobby, on both counts, though he didn't know why.

"Excuse me? Like you have a better knowledge of winter weather, Mr. Arizona? And that water is freezing and it's like, ten miles across!" Gwen rejoined.

"Whatever, all I know is that I'm missing the hunt for this little 'joyride'."

"Ah, so now it comes out. What is it with you and animals?" Gwen asked, she sounded a bit forlorn. Percy sensed some history there, but wasn't sure how deep it went. Then they went over a particularly large bump and he bounced a bit. When he came back down, his head hit the floor, and he let out an involuntary grunt.

A second later, two swords were pointed at his throat. After that giant bump they'd just experienced, Percy didn't really trust the steadiness of his captors' arms. There was no instinctive escape attempt in store for him this time, gagged and bound as he was. One of the girls and Bobby were the sword wielders while the other girl drove. The sword girl held up an ordinary looking ball-point pen and addressed Percy.

"Would you care to tell me what you are doing with this?" she asked menacingly. By her voice, he could tell this was Gwen, and his intuition had been right. She was hot…and dangerous. _Just my type_, he thought. _Maybe?_ He went for something witty in reply, but all that came out was, "Unmmff mmmfth ssmmmrrrffff."

Bobby reached down and ripped the gag off, probably harder than necessary. "Well, answer the question, what are you doing with this?" Gwen repeated.

"Writing down your phone number?" Percy replied hopefully.

"Gawd, what a goob," the driver, Rey, said.

"Yeah?" Gwen continued completely unphased by Percy's mega-charm. "And how exactly would you do that with this?" Percy began to rethink his position on this girl. Sure she was hot, but he had amnesia and even he knew what a pen was for.

"Um, it's a pen," he replied slowly. "You use it to write things like checks, grocery lists, and hot girls' phone num—"

"She knows what a pen is, asswipe," Bobby interrupted me. "But that is not a pen." Oookay, these guys were seriously off the deep end. He'd managed to escape from a giant intelligent wolf and fear-mongering psychopath who bled gold goo only to be captured by Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber.

"Okay, sure, it's not a pen," Percy responded. "You know, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. My name's Percy Jackson and I've had a pretty rough morn—"

"Look, I don't care who you are, Pickle-me Jackass," Bobby spat. "Just answer the lady's question. Why do you have this weapon?"

"Weapon? Um, is this a philosophical thing? I heard you talking about philosophy class earlier. You know, the whole, 'the pen is mightier than the sword' thing?"

"Nothing philosophical about it, noob. This pen ain't mightier than the sword it is a fucking sword." Bobby took it from Gwen and popped off the top. Instantly, the pen transformed into a 3-foot long bronze sword. Many different thoughts went through Percy's head as he saw that, from 'holy shit, a sword!' to 'crap, now the creepy animal lover dude has two swords pointed at me.' What he said was:

"Well, that would have been nice to know a couple hours ago."

"Yeah, I bet," replied Gwen. "You probably would've tried to kill Lupa rather than just run like you were supposed to."

"Well, duh! She was gonna eat me!" Percy still wasn't convinced this girl had all her marbles. She looked like she wanted to say more, but then the van went dark and started to slow down.

We're here," Rey said simply. They had driven into a tunnel from what Percy could tell, but then Rey turned the wheel hard to the right aiming straight for the tunnel wall. Percy heard screaming and realized it was coming from his throat. He closed his mouth and prepared himself for fiery death at the hands of the Bumbling Wolinda's, but suddenly the van was back under daylight and braking rapidly. Bobby did something completely unexpected then. He took the pen-sword, cut Percy's bonds then flipped it around and offered Percy the hilt.

"Seriously?" Wow, how dumb were these guys? They kidnap a guy, then hand him a sword while stuck in a confined space? Percy almost felt a shred of pity.

"You're gonna need it," Bobby smirked. Then he turned opened the slider and hopped out with Gwen and Rey to join his 40 or so friends who ringed the van. All of them had weapons, swords, spears, bows, etc., and they were all pointed right at Percy.

"Oh, boy."


	4. Chapter 4  Reyna

_Chapter 4_

_Reyna_

"Enough!" she shouted as she completed her spell. Suddenly, the cacophony which had been raging for nearly an hour ceased and the courtyard sank into an eerie silence. She took a moment to take in the carnage in front of her then shook her head, stunned. Her gaze shifted to the teenager suspended ten feet above the cobblestones. His dark, shaggy hair clung to his forehead with sweat and his unsettling green eyes were flashing with power like a stormy sea, but the fierceness was receding now that the fight was over.

She noticed he had a few minor cuts and bruises, but that was all. She'd observed the fight and knew he should have more serious injuries than what he showed. Soft, Bobby had called him. She almost laughed. The entire second and third legions and a good deal of the first, including Bobby, lay scattered and unconscious around the courtyard.

Her magic was not the healing kind, but she could tell no one was dead or seriously injured. Despite what this Percy may or may not remember about himself, it was obvious he had plenty of fighting experience and knew the difference between a fight to the death and a sparring match. Or his body knew at any rate.

Reyna glanced back up to where she was holding Percy and noticed he was looking at his injuries with an expression of utter shock. She wasn't sure why, but she assumed he was surprised he wasn't dead. So was she. He may have been sparring, but the legions were out for blood. Ironically, the fact that he had beaten everyone yet still left them all alive would lower his standing, make him seem weak and squeamish. Reyna didn't care about that, she was suitably impressed.

Percy looked up from his examination of himself and made eye contact with her. As he did so, she almost dropped him as her concentration briefly broke. A force like a tidal wave surged through her body in that one look. She could tell he wasn't putting any power behind his gaze, his eyes and that serious expression just did that to girls. _This guy's a serious lady killer_, Reyna thought, _He's not as good looking as Jason, but those eyes, day-umn!_ This thought of course led her to thoughts of Jason. Was he thinking of her too wherever he was? She scowled at herself. Sparing thoughts for deserters was not an option. She put the coward out of her mind.

"Percy Jackson, you have passed your final trial," Reyna held his gaze with some difficulty. "Welcome to the Legion Army of Roman Demigods." She certainly didn't expect what happened next. He looked at her with a bemused expression for a moment then doubled over in mid-air and started giggling like a 12 year-old girl.

"LARD? Seriously?" he managed between chuckles. Reyna felt a strong urge to magically neuter this guy but managed to restrain herself. Instead she lowered him slowly to the ground and walked purposefully toward him. She felt the eyes of everyone who was still conscious follow her steady march. She reached him and invaded his personal space until their faces were about two inches apart. She was a tall girl and usually she hated it, but she was glad now since she didn't have to look up to stare Percy down.

"Listen, Pleb," she menaced, or at least she hoped. It was still hard to look him in the eye. "Poking fun at the Legions is not a healthy practice." Apparently, she was sufficiently intimidating because he stopped laughing immediately. She noticed the mirth didn't fully leave his fascinating eyes, setting them dancing in the midday light…_Stop it, Reyna! _she admonished herself. _Angry face time._ She stepped away and raised her voice so the rest of the crowd could hear. "Now that you have passed all your tests, you will be formally inducted into the Legions and our seer will attempt to determine you. The ceremony will be held during the Saturnalia feasts this evening. Until then, you're with me.

"Legionnaires, thank you for your service today, you may resume your training," she addressed the crowd. "Gwen, take Bobby to the infirmary and have his arm tended to. James, see to Kristen's head. And Sara, will you take Vicky?" Reyna continued to look around for the more seriously injured, but most of the soldiers were only suffering hurt pride. She turned back to Percy as her orders were being carried out with a lot of grumbling and dirty looks at the new kid.

"What's a pleb?" he asked before she could say anything. She felt a little embarrassed. It wasn't a very nice thing to call someone and she wasn't sure how she could explain it without making herself look like an asshole. She did what anyone else would do in that situation, she completely ignored the question.

"Follow me. I'm sure you have many questions. I do as well." She marched off toward the training grounds without a backwards glance. She led him across the central courtyard of the Senate building towards the southern practice fields first. The columns surrounding the court were festooned with garlands and ribbons provided by the Ceres contingent. There were candles everywhere as well, but being just around lunchtime, none of them were lit.

It was December 18th and Saturnalia had begun last night. It would run through the solstice and was really the only time of year the army was allowed to let their hair down. Reyna supposed that's why they were still celebrating this festival, even though it seemed hypocritical after the past few years of war with Saturn and his brethren. The gods had finally defeated him on Olympus 4 months ago, and it was pretty ironic for the children of the gods to celebrate the "Golden Age" of his rule they'd tried so hard to prevent from recurring.

She wasn't sure how the gods would react. It was probably a stroke of luck for them that Olympus was closed. Luckily for the Romans, if the gods made a stink about the celebrations, they had a fallback explanation. It was also a holiday in honor of Lupa, the one who raised Remus and Romulus, sons of Mars and founders of Rome. Seeing as she was their patron, it was only fitting they honor her.

They were almost to the portal out of the Senate onto the path the southern practice fields before Percy spoke up. "You're the driver from the van, one of the three that kidnapped me", he accused. "Who are you and how did you do that to me at the end of the fight?"

"I am Reyna Monroe, daughter of Trivia and current Praetor of the First Legion." She explained. He gave her a confused look that seemed to fit his face so well she figured that, even before he lost his memory, this was his most natural expression.

"So you must be really good at Jeopardy," he replied with a slight smirk and a twinkle in his eyes. She realized that her first impression of him had been correct; he _was_ a goob…a cute one, though.

"Listen, Chuckles, whether or not I'm good at Jeopardy—I'm awesome, by the way—has nothing to do with my mother," she explained. "Trivia is the Roman goddess of the triple-crossroads and thus of sorcery. So naturally I have some ability in the magical arts. Levitating you was a rather simplistic spell, but it got the job done."

"Triple-crossroads?" Percy inquired.

"The intersection of life, death, and immortality. The crossroads from which arises all mystical energy," Reyna replied. It was odd that she had to explain this. "How is it that you can use powers like you do, but not know about the triple-crossroads? You're obviously a demigod, you couldn't be here if you weren't. And you've definitely been trained…"

"Yeah, you mentioned this demigod thing earlier," Percy interrupted with a skeptical look on his face. "Is this, like, a LARPer compound or something? 'Cause I'm not really into the whole creative anachronism thing."

"Remember what I said about unhealthy habits?" Reyna replied, her jaw clenched and her hands balled into fists. He might have amazing eyes, but this guy's mouth was becoming a deal breaker. "No one here is role playing, well, except during our tactical simulations. I assure you when I say we are all demigods, I mean it in the true sense of the word. Everyone here is half-human, half-god, except for Sam, she's human. Anyway, my turn. Who are you, how did you learn to fight like that, and where?"

"I don't know, on all three accounts. First thing I can remember was waking up in that cave this morning. The wolf had to tell me my name, maybe she knows more about me and where I'm from. Can we ask her?" Percy pleaded. He was obviously desperate to regain his memories. Reyna wondered if she would be as quick to want her life back if it was taken away from her so cleanly. So many horrible things had happened, lost friends, pain, sacrifice. Would it be such a bad thing to lose that? She shook her head, she didn't think she'd ever get that lucky anyway.

"Normally, that would be difficult. Lupa isn't a regular fixture here at the base. She prefers to live with her pack up in the valley. But you're in luck, this being Saturnalia, we will be holding feasts in her honor. She'll show up to at least one of them out of a sense of duty if not pride," Reyna remarked.

"So what is this Saturnalia, you keep mentioning? From all the decorations, I'd say it's a pretty big event around here," Percy asked. "I think you also mentioned it lasts for several days. Is it like Hanukah?"

"Saturnalia is a festival honoring Saturn, the Titan of time and agriculture. There are also rites which honor Lupa for her role in the founding of Rome," Reyna answered. She noticed a dark look flit across his face at the words 'Titan of time,' but it was gone so fast she thought she may have imagined it. "It's actually closer to the mortals' Christmas celebrations than anything else. Though it's a several day event, many of the secular traditions are the same: the evergreen boughs and trees, the holly, the exchange of presents and so on. It's also a time of role reversals and relaxations of normal protocols." She looked around at all the soldiers dressed in mortal street clothes, running around, laughing and for once, just being normal teenagers. She smiled, _I guess this celebration isn't so bad_. "You're lucky you arrived when you did. Normally we follow a very strict regimen, but this week you get to see us unguarded."

They had reached the southern fields by then, and Reyna pointed out the archery range and the dueling grounds. "Are you as good at archery as you are with that sword of yours?" she asked him. If he was, the Apollo regiment was in for a rude awakening.

"Um, I don't think so," he grimaced. "I don't know why, but I get the feeling I'm more likely to hit myself than anything else." Reyna smiled at that, so he was half-human after all. As she was leading him west toward the stables, a short strawberry-blonde girl walked out of the side door. When she looked up and saw the two of them headed in her direction, her expression turned panicky and she turned and hurried back inside.

"Come on, Percy, twenty questions is on hold for a bit, I have some business to attend to, and you'll get to see the stables," Reyna said, a note of anger creeping into her voice. They picked up their pace and quickly arrived at the stable doors. Reyna couldn't see the girl, but knew she hadn't left the building. That was the nice thing about having magical powers, you could use them for all sorts of things.

"Hazel! I know you're still here," Reyna called. "We need to talk. Now!" They stood there for a minute waiting until a rather sheepish looking Hazel emerged from an empty stall. She was a short, slightly plump girl with reddish-blonde hair and warm yellow eyes ringed with green. "Percy, this is Hazel Guinness, daughter of Pompona. Hazel, this is Percy Jackson, a new recruit, currently undetermined. Percy, why don't you go meet some of the pegasi while Hazel and I have a little chat."

"Pegasi? You're joking," Percy scoffed.

"Percy, just go," Reyna exasperated. She turned to Hazel as Percy walked off towards the occupied stalls. "Where were you this morning, Hazel?" she accused.

"I-I was h-held up," Hazel stammered. She took a breath and a continued more steadily, "I needed to check on Andromeda, she's about to foal, Rey. Do you know how long it's been since we've had a pegasus give birth? You know how important this is!"

"Holy shit! Its got fucking wings!" Percy had obviously discovered his first pegasus. Reyna buried her face in her palm and shook her head.

"What's wrong, Rey?" Hazel chuckled. "The new guy a bit of a handful? He's pretty cute though. That's gotta make up for some of it. Hey, now that Jason's gone, maybe he-"

"Can it, Hazel. You know the rules, deserters are not to be spoken of," Reyna retorted. "And quit trying to change the subject. You are Praetor of the Third Legion, you had a duty to lead your troops into battle. If you keep this up, you'll-"

"Battle?" Hazel scoffed. "It was an initiation trial, not a battle. Besides, the guy looks pretty soft. I bet he didn't even get past Jane-"

"He took down your entire Legion, and Dakota's and half of mine before I called the fight," Reyna interrupted. "The guy is far from soft and fights in a style I've never seen before. But that is beside the point. Your soldiers were counting on you today, and you let them down. Last week's challenge will not be the last unless you step up and do your job."

"I'm sorry, Rey," Hazel acquiesced with a sigh. "I'm just so excited and worried about Andromeda. We're so harsh with the way we use our pegasi, they're getting killed so much faster than we can raise them. I do my best to provide for them, but over the last few years they've just, I don't know, lost interest in mating." Reyna was pretty sure that was impossible. She was only sixteen and still pretty new to the whole game, but she wasn't sure how anyone could just 'lose interest.' "And now, Andromeda's finally going foal and I'm the only one who seems to care," Hazel continued.

"Have you talked to Bobby?" Reyna admonished. "You know how he is about animals. I'm sure he'd be willing to help you figure out what's wrong." Hazel blushed, looked at the floor and shook her head. Reyna, hell everyone knew Hazel had had a huge crush on Bobby for years, but she was too intimidated by Gwen to do anything about it. It was stupid, since Gwen and Bobby had broken up more than a year ago. They were still close friends, though.

Hazel didn't have enough self-confidence to see past that and make her move, and Bobby, like most boys, was woefully ignorant of everything having to do with the human heart. Reyna sighed, "Look Hazel, he's not going to bite…unless you want him to." Hazel gasped in shock. "I'm kidding, but seriously, ask him to help you. If nothing else it's a good way to spend time with him without Gwen around. You know how much she hates nature."

"Well, that's a good point, I guess," Hazel perked up a bit. "I'll talk to him at dinner tonight…Rey will you help me? You're my best friend and I just…well you know." She looked at Reyna with big puppy dog eyes that no one could say no to.

"Alright, alright," Reyna laughed. "I'll be your wingman, but no chickening out! And please, remember what I said about your duties? It's important."

"Yeah, I know, Rey. It won't happen again," Hazel apologized. Just then they heard a shout from the other end of the stables.

"Reyna! Hazel! Come quick!" Percy bellowed. "One of the pegasi is in trouble!"


	5. Chapter 5 Reyna

_Chapter 5_

_Reyna_

Reyna was slightly confused as she looked up at the patchwork of vaulted beams and thatching that was the stable's roof. Most of her disorientation arose from trying to figure out why she was lying on the dirty thrush-strewn floor and why her shoulder was aching. Then she remembered Percy's frantic exclamation that one of the pegasi was in trouble. Before she had even processed what the strange boy had said, Hazel had run straight for the sound of his voice. Unfortunately, that happened to be directly behind Reyna, and Hazel was not about to let an obstacle like her best friend stand her way of helping her horses.

She had barreled straight through Reyna, managing to ram right into her already weakened right shoulder and knock her on her ass. Thinking about her posterior region brought on the realization that her shoulder was not the only body part experiencing an unpleasant sensation. She felt something slightly warm and wet seeping through her jeans. _I swear to Jove, if I landed in horse-shit.._.She rolled to her left and looked to where she'd been sitting and sure enough...As she got to her feet, she debated inwardly who was going to die first, Percy or Hazel. By the time she reached them, she'd settled on a double execution by defenestration into a giant manure pile. It seemed only fitting.

Percy and Hazel were in the middle of an argument in front of what turned out to be Andromeda's stall. Considering Hazel's earlier concern over this particular pegasus' welfare, Reyna thought she was being rather callous to spend the energy arguing with the lost cause that was Percy Jackson rather than see to the supposedly distressed animal. Granted, just the small amount of time Reyna had spent with the kid this morning had been enough for her not to blame Hazel too much. He had that magical quality that most boys have of being innocently infuriating; he just had it in spades. One look in the stall cleared up Reyna's confusion. Andromeda was standing placidly in her home calmly munching her oats and showing absolutely no signs of distress.

"—scared me half to death, asshole!" Hazel was berating Percy with a look of exasperation mixed with relief on her round face. Percy was once again wearing that confused expression that seemed so natural on his handsome face. _Stop it, Rey! He's a doofus._

"Look," Percy defended, "there is something wrong with these horses." He extended his arm and pointed at Andromeda.

"Wait, _horses_?As in plural? How did you know she was pregnant?" Reyna interrupted the argument. She was pretty sure she hadn't mentioned it and he was off exploring the stables while she and Hazel were discussing the situation. Sure, the horse's belly was pretty distended, but for all he knew, she could just have been a fat pegasus.

"She told me," he replied simply.

"She _told_ you?" Hazel asked incredulously. "What the hell do you mean, she told you? I've known this pegasus since she was a foal and she definitely can't talk."

"Um…really? Well, she spoke to _me_. Not like Mr. Ed or anything. More like in my head. Is that weird?" Percy explained. For about the fifth time that morning, Reyna's palm met her face with a sigh.

"Normally, I would say you need to visit our infirmary, the psychiatric ward to be precise. But, honestly I'm not surprised you're hearing phantom horse voices in your head." Reyna replied. "Regardless of why, however, what did she 'say' to you that ultimately resulted in ruining my jeans?" Percy spared a brief glance at her feces covered ass and broke into that annoyingly cute smirk of his. She realized where she had drawn his eyes and instantly felt flushed, half from embarrassment and half out of anger.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare the shit out of you…literally," Percy chuckled. Dear gods he was annoying.

"Alright, Giggles McGee, keep that crap up and you won't survive to attend your welcoming ceremony tonight," Reyna retorted through clenched teeth. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Hazel trying to suppress her own chortles with only limited success. "Anyway, I believe my original question referred to what our esteemed pegasus may or may not have said to you which caused such an uproar."

"Actually, nothing." He must have seen danger in Reyna's eyes because he continued quickly, "Her foal is in pain. He can't speak in words yet, but it's clear there is something wrong. I can't be sure exactly what the problem is, though." Hazel rushed into the stall and started examining Andromeda's swollen abdomen.

"Doesn't Andromeda know what's wrong?" Reyna took one look at the horse, calmly munching down its lunch and realized that was a stupid question. The mother had no idea.

"She's not the brightest bird in the bush. The foal's been kicking frantically for about an hour, but she's kind of oblivious." Percy had leaned in close so he could speak softly to Reyna without the pegasus overhearing. His face was only inches from hers and she could feel his breath on her cheek as he whispered in her ear. Involuntarily, her stomach lurched and started to flutter as his closeness. She had time to notice that he smelled amazing before he pulled back away. Like a brisk morning breeze off the ocean, full of brine and the promise of a new day. She realized her mouth had been hanging open for a few seconds and she promptly closed it, biting her tongue in the process. _Love hurts_, her quick, cynical mind thought before she could stop it. Luckily, she was saved from further highly disturbing thoughts when Hazel emitted a groan of frustration from the stall.

"What's wrong?" Reyna and Percy asked in unison. Hazel stood and wrung her hands as she walked back towards them.

"We need to birth this foal now," Hazel said with her voice full of fear. "He's weak and getting more so by the minute. It's only a few days from Andromeda's term anyway, but if we let this go, I don't think the baby will make it. I can't be sure, but I think the umbilical cord is wrapped around its neck. And on top of that, he's facing the wrong way. Ugh, this is awful, if we try to turn him and go the wrong direction, it will only tighten the noose." Awful was right.

"Alright, Percy, you stay here and see if you can help Hazel calm the foal down and keep it from struggling. Don't try turning it yet, I'm going to go get Bobby." Hazel gave her a look of relief mixed with anxiety as Reyna turned and raced out of the stables towards the infirmary. As much as she hated to admit it, her stomach didn't have the highest tolerance for these kinds of things, and she was more than happy to have an excuse to remove herself from the situation.

As she ran across the practice fields, her mind involuntarily drifted back to a few moments before when she'd been overwhelmed by Percy's nearness. _This is so stupid_, she told herself. _I just met this guy! He could be a nutcase! Correction, I _know_ he's a nutcase. Argggghhh!_ She forced herself to look at it rationally. She reasoned with herself that the fact that she'd just met the guy was exactly the reason for the attraction. He was a mystery, a completely annoying and frustrating mystery, but enigmatic all the same.

She'd known all the other old-enough-to-date guys in the legions for years. There wasn't much she didn't know about any of them or that they didn't know about her, but Percy was different. Not only did she not know anything about him, _he_ didn't know anything about him. That fact was almost as charming as his bottomless green eyes and that impossibly cute little smirk. Ok, irrationality was setting in again. She couldn't let her guard down. She'd done that recently and it'd been a disaster. She thought for a moment—still running and about halfway to the infirmary where Bobby was hopefully recovered enough to help—it had only been two days!

She remembered back to two nights ago as she and Jason were returning to the First Legion barracks after evening classes. It was raining, really raining, for the first time that winter, and they were practically running with their calculus books as improvised umbrellas. Who cared about calculus anyway? Just because its inventor Isaac Newton had been a son of Minerva didn't mean the rest of them down through the ages had to suffer.

They had almost made it to the barracks when she had tripped on something causing her to fall into him, knocking them both over. She'd landed hard on her right shoulder and felt it wrench painfully. For a minute, the pain in her shoulder was all she thought about, until she realized that she was lying on top of Jason. Somehow he'd managed to twist around to try to break her fall, but obviously hadn't been too successful. He'd seen the look of agony on her face and immediately picked her up and carried her to the infirmary.

She hadn't expected him to stay with her and hold her hand the entire time while her dislocated shoulder was reset. That had been extremely painful and she was surprised she hadn't broken any of Jason's fingers with her death grip. Perhaps she was flattered by his attention or just delirious from the pain, but something bolstered her courage to finally tell him how she felt. She'd liked him for ages, but had never seemed to find th right time to talk to him about it.

And so lying there in the infirmary, she'd poured her heart out to the beautiful boy sitting next to her, with his blonde hair dark and matted from the rain and his blue-blue eyes shining in the candlelight. As she looked back on it now, she realized she must have sounded drunk, but Jason didn't pull away or scoff at her. He just sat there and listened until she'd exhausted her heart. Then he'd leaned forward and rather than kissing her lips like she'd hoped for, he planted an almost fatherly kiss on her forehead. She was devastated. It wasn't exactly a no, but it wasn't a yes either. He'd said he needed time to think about it, that he wasn't sure about his feelings, and that it might be too big of a risk since dating under age 18 in the legions was technically forbidden. With her face feeling like it was falling off from the extreme downward direction of her changing expression, she'd untangled her hand from his, said something stupid, like 'Fine, I'll see you tomorrow for training,' and rolled to face away from him. She'd rolled right onto her just-set shoulder, but she'd be damned if she was going to let the pain show in her body or face. He'd sat there for a few minutes that seemed like eternity to her, then gotten up without a word and left.

Then he'd truly disappeared. The next morning Jason was nowhere to be found, and she'd been the last person to see him. Even with her arm in a sling she'd sent five people to the infirmary that morning as she took out her anger. Not only had he jilted her, he'd deserted his post. The guilt that she was the reason he'd run made his desertion all that more painful for her. She'd moved that his name be stricken from the records immediately rather than waiting the standard Roman week to see if he'd return of his own accord.

Regardless, he'd been stripped of his post, promoting her as his second-in-command to Praetor. After all that anguish she'd just gone through, she couldn't believe her teenage heart could be so fickle. Well, she wasn't going to let her heart lead her on this one. Reason and common sense were going to win the day. And common sense told her that Percy was an amnesiatic annoying doof, she had just had her heart broken, and there was no way she was going to let him get the better of her.

Reyna's personal thoughts were thankfully broken up as she arrived at the infirmary. She raced inside to find Bobby having his wound cleaned and wrapped. There was a half empty glass of ambrosia next to him, but apparently the laceration was deep enough to require binding anyway. She must have had a strange expression on her face because Bobby returned it with a look that was both bemused and slightly concerned.

"What's up, boss?" he asked with that same concern laden in his voice.

"We need you down at the stables," she panted, still breathing slightly hard from her run across the compound. "Andromeda's foal is in trouble." A look of almost shear panic ran across Bobby's face, which seemed unusual since he was normally pretty calm when it came to animals in distress. He had this way with beasts that was uncanny. They all just seemed to respond to him like he was Dr. Dolittle. It was his one power that was manifest, but no one had been able to tie it to a godly parent. At least not any that made sense. The expression he currently wore was not one Reyna had ever seen, and though she knew Andromeda's pregnancy was a big deal, she wondered as his over concern.

"Is Hazel there? Is she alright? She's not freaking out, is she?" Maybe Bobby wasn't so oblivious to Hazel as Reyna thought. Well, it was no time for emotional exploration, she reminded herself hypocritically.

"She's fine, Bobby, the new kid, Percy, is with her." In retrospect, probably not the best thing to mention. Bobby shot up off the bed, startling Marie, daughter of Apollo who'd been finishing up the bandage on his arm.

"Hey, I'm not done!" she exclaimed, standing up quickly to tie off the wrapping. As soon as it was finished, Bobby shot out the door and started across the practice fields with Reyna straining to keep up.

"Why did you leave that asshole there? He'll probably kill the poor thing," Bobby demanded as Reyna caught up to him finally.

"Seems he can talk to pegasi, or so he claims," Reyna explained. "If he can, it could help smooth the birth." Reyna still wasn't convinced that Percy could communicate with horses, but he had been right about the foal's distress.

"That's stupid! _I_ can't even talk to animals," Bobby retorted. He wasn't being conceited, he really was the best trainer they had, and it often seemed like he could talk to his charges. "So what's wrong with the baby and is Andromeda ok?" He was all business now. Reyna explained the situation as best she could. Something about turning and umbilical cords…she could almost feel her face turning green as she talked about it. Normally Bobby was understanding about Reyna's weak stomach, but his concern and anger overrode his manners this time.

"Come on, Rey, I need to know the details," he cajoled with exasperation when he saw her chartreuse face.

"Dangit, Bobby, I don't know about this kind of stuff. Hazel will have to fill you in," Reyna responded. They reached the stable doors and flew inside. Bobby ran straight down the corridor to Andromeda's stall where Reyna could hear sounds that made her already churning belly turn inside out as she wretched into the nearest trash bin. After about 20 straight minutes of hurling her lunch, breakfast and last night's dinner, she finally started to feel her stomach regain some sense of normalcy. She could still hear all manner of unsettling noises from the other side of the stable, though, so she decided to get some fresh air. She was almost to the door when all the noises stopped. Then the worst sound of all came.

"REYNA! We need you, NOW!"


	6. Chapter 6 Bobby

**DISCLAIMER UPDATE: No, I _still _do not own PJO or THO, just my story. Please R&R!  
**

_Chapter 6_

_Bobby_

This wasn't supposed to happen. _Son of a bitch!_ Bobby thought. The _one_ time in three years a pegasus foals and this happens. What had they done to offend the gods anyway? _Those fucking bastards_, he blasphemed internally, _what gives them the damn right to make these creatures suffer? _Bobby never dissembled over his dislike of the gods. Why should he have any love for them? He'd been in the Legion Army for six years already and none of them had bothered to claim him. He was an orphan otherwise so he had no idea whether his bastard father or his bitch mother was the so-called god. There were plenty of times he wondered if he really was a demigod, but he knew couldn't be lucky enough to be mortal, nothing in his fucked up life could ever be that simple or normal. He never sacrificed at meals, a scandal that most of the legionnaires had gotten used to. He always skipped 'philosophy' class, which was really just a cover up for devotional services to the various gods on their feast days. Some of his friends had even been surprised that he fought with them against the titans last summer. Well, he didn't give a shit about the damn titans either. They were just as petty, selfish and manipulative as the gods. His friends he knew well though, and he was fiercely loyal to them. They had earned his trust and affection. There's no way he would have abandoned them, even if they did fight for ridiculous causes.

During his introspective, Bobby began to wonder if the current situation wasn't some twisted form of Roman karma. Were the gods doing this because of him? He was the animal freak, after all, and he was also the problem child. Were they really that petty? _Yes._ The realization only made him angrier. They had a pretty sick sense of how to garner devotion. He'd read some mortal psychology books in his free time, and they almost always said negative reinforcement was never a good way to train a student, or a worshiper in this case. _Fuck 'em_, he thought, _I'll make this birth successful in spite of their fucked up sense of punishment. _The problem was, things were not going well.

He'd run into the stall where he found Andromeda lying down on her side, not really looking too distressed. Bobby had always thought this particular pegasus was a little slow. Maybe that's why Carbunkle had picked her, guess he liked them dumb. Hazel was kneeling down next to the horse's belly poking and prodding lightly in various places, apparently trying to determine the correct direction to turn the poor foal. Bobby admitted he was pretty fond of Hazel, though he wasn't ready to confess that he actually liked her. She wasn't the cutest girl at camp, she had average to above-average facial features and she certainly didn't miss many meals. She wasn't fat, but she certainly wasn't as trim as girls like Reyna or Gwen. To Bobby, Hazel was the epitome of pleasant. Her one feature that he liked more than any other girl's was her eyes. He liked how they shifted from a warm yellow near the pupils to a deep forest green at the edge of her irises. Being a daughter of the goddess of plenty, she was also an amazing cook. She baked killer cookies, and Bobby loved him some cookies. He admired her ability to be sunny and upbeat all the time. It was a skill he couldn't fathom. Of course, he was a bitter, cynical bastard so he guessed that was only natural. Hazel didn't seem so upbeat right now though. Her face was wearing an expression of pure despair, and even her fascinating eyes held no glimmer of hope that he could see.

Bobby looked up to see the new kid, Percy, on the other side of Andromeda's stomach. He was bent over with his face almost touching the horse's hide, and he was talking like he was trying to calm the unborn foal down. That wasn't so unusual, reassuring tones often helped Bobby calm down spooked animals. What stopped him in his tracks was that Percy seemed to be having a conversation. He would speak a few words, stop then respond like the foal was talking back to him. This kid was off his rocker, thinking he heard pegasus voices, from the womb no less. Bobby watched this exchange incredulously for almost a full minute before Hazel noticed him standing there and startled him into action.

"Bobby, don't just stand there like a moron, help me!" she exclaimed. Bobby shook his head and quickly knelt down next to Hazel.

"So what's the situation?" he asked professionally.

"Didn't Reyna tell you?"

"Reyna is many things, but a midwife will never be one of them," Bobby replied. "I think she's at the other end of the stables getting ready to hurl as we speak."

"That girl," Hazel sighed. "Well, the foal is turned the wrong way, which is bad enough. Worse, I think the umbilical cord is strangling him."

"How do you know it's a him and that he's being strangled?" Bobby wondered. Usually those details would be unknown until after the birth, or stillbirth if it were true.

"He told Percy," Hazel replied absentmindedly.

"Will someone please explain to me why this asshole thinks he can talk to horses? Better yet, why do you believe him?" Bobby asked exasperatedly.

"He's been right so far, and when he told Andromeda to lie down, she did so immediately," Hazel explained.

"I'm not actually speaking with the foal," Percy continued. "He can't really understand what words mean yet, but he can send me images and feelings."

"Okaaaay, well, what visions are you currently receiving from the great beyond, Madame Cleo," Bobby scoffed. Percy shot him an annoyed look.

"Look, pal, I'm trying my best here," Percy exhorted. "If you don't want my help, I'll go hold the cute magic chick's hair back."

"Fine, can you tell which direction the cord is wrapped?" Bobby capitulated.

"Well, that's the problem," Percy frowned. "The foal definitely isn't getting enough blood to the brain, but something's strange. I get really clear images of most of the womb, but the area around the colt's head is all foggy. And the umbilical cord looks like it's free of any obstructions." Bobby turned and looked at Hazel curiously.

"I thought you said that was the problem," he accused. She flushed and looked down, not able to meet his eyes.

"Well, something is strangling the colt, if not the umbilical cord, then what could it be?" Hazel implored, finally looking at Bobby. The full assault of those eyes struck him speechless for a moment. Finally regaining his senses, he thought about her question and immediately thought, _A god?_ Regardless, it was time to get down to business.

"Alright, well since we have no hard evidence about the asphyxiation, we'll deal with the problem we do know about. We've got to turn the foal." Bobby had turned foals and calves before, but never one in such a weakened state. He was really hoping he wasn't going to have to resort to drastic measures. He began directing Hazel through the correct motions to help the colt turn itself around. There was a particular set of stimulations that normally worked. Each dig into the mother's abdomen garnered them a loud groan or whinny from Andromeda. They weren't trying to induce labor yet, but after about five minutes, they heard the pegasus' water break, followed closely by wretching sounds from the other end of the stables.

"Shit, Percy go try to calm Andromeda down, we'll take care of the foal," Bobby ordered. Percy moved up to kneel by the pegasus' head and began speaking softly. He started chuckling after a few supposed exchanges. Bobby didn't want to know what the horse might have been saying, especially about him. After a few more stunningly unsuccessful attempts at coercing the foal to turn around, Bobby sighed and sat back on his heels. He _really_ didn't want to know what Andromeda was going to say about what he was about to do next. He was wearing one of his favorite t-shirts, so he took it off as he stood to move around to the pegasus' hind quarters. Hazel tried unsuccessfully to muffle her gasp as he did so. _Was that all girls thought about?_ he wondered as he knelt back down. He hoped the nectar had kept working and closed his wound, because it was about to get wet. He didn't think this day could get any worse. Not only had he been woken up early from a pretty good, ok a great dream, missed the morning hunt to go pick up the horse whisperer here, and been thoroughly trounced fighting in the kid's initiation battle, but now he was about to delve into the nether regions of a birthing pegasus. He sighed, _Just your typical day livin' for LARD._

"Hey, Chuckles, if you can really talk to the horse, talk fast," Bobby pleaded. "See if you can get her to not kick me in the face."

"Why? What are you gonna—Oh! yeah, I'll get right on that." Percy's eyes were wide as dinner plates as he looked up and realized what Bobby was about to do. Bobby took a deep breath and took the plunge. By some grace or providence—Bobby didn't know—he found it hard to recall the next thirty minutes of his life. When, at the end of that half-hour he was finally sitting back on his ass with the wet and sticky colt lying on his lap, he almost thought he'd actually sacrifice to the gods at dinner tonight. Not only had he turned and successfully extricated the colt, but he found his memory of how he'd actually accomplished this feat was rather foggy. Then his mind was snapped brutally back to the present as he realized the colt was fading.

"Fuck! Hazel, I need your help over here." The first thing Bobby noticed was that the animal's neck, though unencumbered by any asphyxiant, was unnaturally contracted, the muscles bulging and convulsing. Bobby had seen this before in older Pegasi, a problem with their nervous systems that was a result of millennia of inbreeding. He'd lost almost every pegusus afflicted with the condition, until he'd found the correct pressure points to hit to relieve tension. He'd never seen it occur in a horse so young, but he set straight to the sequence of nerve stimulation along the colt's body that should ease the symptoms.

"What do I need to do?" Hazel had taken one look at the colt, and the look of joy that had been on her face a moment before at seeing the foal safely birthed was wiped clean and her voice was full of despair.

"I need you start massaging his neck muscles. While I start on the pressure point sequence," Bobby told her, trying to add some reassurance to his tone though he didn't think he'd succeeded. He set to work, but some of the spots were very close together, even on a full-grown pegasus, and Bobby was having difficulty distinguishing between various nerve bundles. His work was suddenly cut short when Hazel gasped and was thrown across the stable to slam in to the stall's gate. There was a moment of stunned silence while Bobby and Percy tried to understand what had just happened. Bobby finally knew what was causing the colt to perish, and it was nothing natural. The moment broke and Percy ran over to the now unconscious form of Hazel lying prone on the stable floor.

"REYNA! We need you NOW!" Bobby hollered hoping she wasn't too incapacitated. Thankfully, he heard footsteps running towards the stall and Reyna's lithe form burst into the stall. Bobby could see her flushed face tinge green again as she saw the wreckage of horsey afterbirth all around him and the colt.

"Rey, we don't have time for squeamishness, the colt is almost dead and someone, or some_thing_, doesn't want it to live," Bobby tried to calm her. "We need your magic now, so you've got to focus." He saw Reyna take a deep breath and look around the stall.

"Hazel! Oh my gods, what happened!" Reyna screamed leaping toward her best friend.

"She's unconscious, but I don't think it's just the result of hitting her head," Percy pondered. "She seems stable enough for now though."

"How the hell do you know? You don't know shit except how to be a giggly pervert!" Reyna accused, clearly distressed. Bobby had never known her to be so rude on purpose, that was his job.

"Rey, she'll be ok, damn it. I'm the one who needs your help," Bobby indicated the quickly passing horse in his lap.

"But, I don't have healing magic, you know that, Bobby!" Reyna wailed. She was completely out of her element and Bobby would have felt sorry for her if there were time, but sadly…

"I don't need you to heal him!" Bobby retorted. "I don't think you could anyway. There's magic at work here, and I need you to help me understand it, maybe reverse it. I just wish I knew who the fuck wanted to kill a baby pegasus." Reyna seemed to understand and finally moved to sit across from Bobby. He knew how much willpower her magic cost her. Combined with having to lay her hands on the newborn, still wet colt, he figured she was about at her limit. But he couldn't afford to be soft on her just yet.

"Alright Rey, do your stuff. Figure out what the bastard's doing to my boy here and fix it," Bobby coaxed her. She closed her eyes and shakily reached out her hand towards the newborn. She stopped about an inch before contact and Bobby could see her nerve faltering. He reached out grabbed her wrist and placed it firmly on the colt's neck, right where Hazel had been blasted. Reyna gasped in shock as some power seemed to jolt through her, but fortunately she was not subjected to a face-plant into the opposite wall like Hazel. Bobby looked at Reyna and saw her face contorted with effort and pain as she quickly muttered some sort of incantation. He assumed she was attempting a tracking spell. Suddenly her cadence shifted and she started to incant at full voice. It must have been a different spell, but Bobby didn't know crap about magic. Then he felt the colt begin to stiffen on his lap.

"Rey, you're losing him!" he implored, but she kept on chanting, almost shouting now. The small horse began to rise off Bobby's lap until he was floating several inches off the floor. He stared incredulously until he noticed Hazel was also levitating in front of a stunned Percy. Reyna broke off her incantation briefly.

"I need your help, both of you," she commanded. "I have to put them in magical stasis to stop the affects of the spell. It's coming from a god so I need more power than my own to halt its progress. Percy and Bobby switch places, I need you each with the subject you have the highest affinity for." Bobby wasn't sure he was comfortable with him having a higher affinity for Hazel than with the horse for which he had just done unspeakable things to try to save, but he didn't take the time to argue. Reyna knew about these new-age magical energies things a lot better than he did. They both stood and hurriedly switched patients.

"I need you to place both hands on your subjects temples, close your eyes and clear your minds, I'll do the rest," Reyna instructed. Percy wrapped his hands gently around the young horse's head, while Bobby, with a slight flutter in his stomach affectionately placed his hands on Hazel's forehead.

"Everything's going to be ok, Haze," Bobby whispered. Reyna began her spell again, and he felt a tingling start in his fingertips where they touched Hazel's hairline. The twinge in his fingers became a steady pulling sensation as Reyna's voice rose in a crescendo.

"_QUIESCO!_" Reyna finished, and both Hazel and the young pegasus stiffened and fell to the floor. The moment Hazel fell out of his grasp, Bobby staggered, and almost fell to the floor himself completely drained. He noticed Percy also looked pale, but he annoyingly stood his ground. Reyna, who had also been floating from the power of her spell, began drifting back to the ground. As her feet touched the earth, she began to crumple, but Percy leapt forward and caught her before she could hit the floor.

"What the hell just happened?" Bobby panted, leaning up against the gate. Reyna's eyes fluttered for a moment before they opened and turned to him.

"I couldn't break the spell, all I could do was halt it's progress," Reyna began. Bobby noticed Percy was still cradling her on his knees. "I could sense the origin was godly but not who cast it. It was directed at the horse, but when Hazel touched the spell's focal point, she absorbed a portion of the impact—"

"But I touched the colt's neck too," Bobby interrupted. "Why didn't it affect me?"

"I don't know, maybe you weren't meant to be affected," Reyna puzzled. "This spell was strange, much more complex than it appeared on the surface. I thought it was simply an augmentation charm using the pegasus' natural predilection to this disorder and accelerating the effects, but it was much deeper than that. That's how I knew it was a god's machination."

"Okay, I understood about two words of that, Rey. Can you speak in plain English please?" Bobby complained.

"All you need to know is the spell was meant to look like one thing on the surface, but actually has a more mysterious purpose," Reyna attempted to explain. "I don't think the death of the horse was ultimate intended result. I think Hazel was hit with it, because she was supposed to be and you weren't."

"And you guys wonder why I hate the fucking gods," Bobby spat. "What kind of all-powerful creative force goes around targeting baby horses and cute teenage girls with death spells just for the fun of it?"

"Poor Hazel," Reyna sighed.

"Poor Hazel? What about the hors—"

"She's gonna be really upset when she learns she was out cold when you called her cute," Reyna smirked. Percy, of course, had to chuckle along with the little joke. Bobby watched Reyna tense as Percy's movement enlightened her to the position she was in, and he enjoyed an internal snicker of his own. He thought she would try to move or sit up, but to his surprise, she relaxed back again. She must have been exhausted from her spellwork.

"Anyway, back to the topic du jour," Bobby deflected. "Why am I so tired, and better yet, why isn't he?" Bobby flipped his finger at Percy in annoyance. "What did you do to us?"

"Like I said, the only way to keep the horse and Hazel alive was to halt the spell's advancement," Reyna continued. "To do that, I had to stop their life forces which were connected to the original spell. That's why they are incapacitated now. To be able to do that without killing them, I needed to connect your life forces to your respective targets. The reason you are so drained and Percy isn't has to do with the complexity of the lives you're supporting."

"But Hazel's not that complex," Bobby retorted. "She's just a sweet girl who makes kickass cookies."

"Dude, she's a teenage girl," Percy supplied. "Have you ever tried to understand how one thinks? It's like trying to solve a twenty-sided rubix cube—"

"Icosahedron," Reyna interrupted absentmindedly.

"Uh—what?" Percy replied.

"A twenty-sided polyhedron is called an icosahedron, not a cube," she explained. Percy turned and gave Bobby a triumphant look.

"My point exactly. Teenage girls are the most complex creatures on earth," Percy confirmed followed closely by a grunt of pain. Reyna apparently had enough energy to elbow him in the gut, Bobby saw.

"How do you even have an opinion on that? I thought you had no memories," Reyna spluttered.

"Well, you know what they say about opinions, they're like assholes, everyone's got one and thinks everyone else's stinks," Bobby quipped.

"Anyway," Reyna pursed, obviously annoyed, "There's one more thing you guys should know. My spell won't last forever. If we don't find a more permanent solution before it expires…so do you."

"Fan-fucking-tastic, Rey," Bobby growled as he stood up still a bit shaky. He paced slowly across the stall to tower over the other two. "This couldn't have been something you mentioned _before_ you cast your doom spell on us?" She sat up now with a wince and didn't even flinch when Percy held a steadying hand to her back.

"It was either this, or they both died by sundown," she responded. "Now at least we have time to look for another solution." It pissed Bobby off that he knew she was right. He certainly didn't like the situation, but he was always willing to lay down his life for his friends. They'd earned it, if for no other reason than they put up with his shit. He sighed and turned towards the gate where Hazel lay.

"Alright," he capitulated, "So what's our expiration date?" He felt like a gallon of milk. She didn't respond right way so he walked outside and found a towel hanging with the rest of the grooming supplies just on the opposite side of the gate. He did his best to towel off the now drying scum from his ordeal. He was walking back to put his shirt back on, when Reyna finally spoke.

"New Year's Day."

"Why? What's so special about New Year's?" Percy asked the question that was on Bobby's lips.

"Nothing in particular, it just happens to be two weeks exactly from today," Reyna explained. "The spell lasts for 14 days."

Bobby exhaled a long breath, "Two weeks, eh? Well, on the bright side, that's a longer time than most quests are allotted," he tried with false brightness then frowned. "Shit, we'll have to be granted a quest." They were getting harder to come by since the Army's numbers were depleted after the summer's exploits. The Council, on supposed orders from Lupa, was being rather stingy with questing rights of late.

"This is my quest too. I'll make the Council of Praetors listen to me," Reyna reminded him. "We'll find out tonight. Both Sam and Lupa will be at the feast."


	7. Chapter 7 Bobby

**A/N: You may notice that Gwen's characterization in this chapter is somewhat different than her first appearance. I'm not beat up about it, she's a plot device more than a real character anyway, so don't flame me on it.**

_Chapter 7_

_Bobby_

Bobby was back in the First Legion barracks standing under the shower letting blessedly hot water ease his weariness away. They'd managed to get Hazel and the colt back to the infirmary rather unceremoniously in a wheelbarrow they found behind the stables. Percy could have carried either the colt or Hazel but not both. So they'd loaded the sleepers into the barrow and hauled them across the base, gathering quite a following along the way. Percy had given the colt the name Roulette. Bobby asked him if it was because of his slim chances, but Percy just said something about a feeling that casino games were good names for pegasi. Further evidence that the new kid was seriously disturbed. The Apollo and Mercury kids who worked the infirmary were not all that pleased to have Roulette in their charge, but Reyna insisted and they capitulated. Being Praetor of the First Legion had its perks.

Reyna had taken Percy to finish his tour while Bobby returned to the barracks for some R&R. He was still too weak to be of much use in training or work. When he got back, Gwen and Sean were having an argument about something stupid in the common room. Gwen was always rowing over stupid shit. It was one of the main reasons they'd broken up. He was as contentious and bitter as the next orphan whipping boy, but he had long ago learned to pick his battles. Gwen, sadly, did not have that skill. Being a daughter of Mars probably had something to do with that. Mars was highly revered in the Roman pantheon, but he was also a dick. Sadly, a lot of his children seemed to inherit that aspect from him. When Bobby drug himself into the barracks, Sean and Gwen had broken off their squabbles and run towards him, obviously concerned.

"What happened?" Sean gasped looking at Bobby's haggard face and stooped walk.

"Are you still bitching about getting whipped by the new kid?" Gwen accused. He looked at her with hooded eyes and flat eyebrows, his best death stare. She flinched, it must have been good.

"Give me about an hour to recover and I'll fill you in on the afternoon's exploits," Bobby dismissed and had stumbled past them towards his bunk. He didn't really care that they were exchanging 'he's cuckoo' glances behind his back. Somehow, he'd had the wherewithal to not fall right on his face when he reached his bunk. He hated cleaning, and the less of his scummy self he got on his sheets, the longer they would pass inspection. So he'd gotten together his toiletries and marched to the boy's locker room to either get clean or drown himself. He wasn't sure which one sounded more appealing.

Standing in the shower now, he was starting to feel better. He knew he wouldn't be 100% until Hazel was better and the spell was lifted. An annoying voice in his head told him the spell wasn't the only thing making him feel worrisome and weak about Hazel, but he brushed it off. He needed to prepare himself for the feast tonight. The feast? _Shit, Hazel was supposed to be in charge of dessert tonight!_ He was going to miss out on her cookies and cake. In his frustration he, punched the tile wall in front of him. In retrospect, not the smartest thing in the world for him to have done. He tried to refocus his thoughts as he massaged his fist. He didn't think anything was broken. His thoughts returned finally to the post-feast ceremonies. If he was lucky, he would be assigned his first peacetime quest. Undetermined soldiers were generally considered a liability on quests. The rhetoric is that their powers are relatively unknown and can wreak havoc on their fellow questers if used improperly. The actual truth was that most unclaimed legionnaires were under the age of eight. They'd be a liability because their general training was lacking sophistication, and they were just annoying. Bobby wasn't a huge fan of the younger soldiers, if you could even call them that. They kinda just got in the way, though there were a few who showed some promise with the animals who weren't so bad. Regardless, he was neither young nor untrained and he damn well deserved this quest. He had to get out of this hellhole, and the occasional drive to pick up a new recruit didn't count.

He turned off the water, found his towel and dried off before walking to the sink. He wiped his hand across the fogged mirror and finally looked at the disaster Reyna's spell had wrought. His skin normally had a deep glow from hours spent baking in the sun during training and caring for his animals. Now it looked dull and sallow, and his cheeks were sunken around his strong jaw and high cheekbones. The bags under his deep-set brown eyes probably could have substituted for that wheelbarrow they'd found with room to spare. His wild curly brown hair, which normally seemed to have a life of its own, was hanging off his head with all the enthusiasm of a soft-spoken vegetarian at a meat packer's convention. No wonder everyone was eyeing him like he was a zombie, he looked like he was about to feast on some brains. He shook his head with a sigh and found his clothes. Once he was dressed, he made it back to his bunk, set his alarm for 30 minutes and passed out.

_He found himself standing in a dark, hollow, cone-like enclosure with natural looking walls. He could see light streaming in between cracks in the boundaries of the cage, at least he thought it was some kind of cage. He sighed to himself, _All I wanted was a few minutes of easy sleep, but nooo… _For some reason he couldn't fathom, the gods took a special interest in him. They called on him almost every night for some stupid crap or other. Their purpose always seemed random, and always interrupted much more pleasant dreams. The irony of the fact that they all seemed to love him, or at least loved annoying him, but that none of them felt like claiming him, was never lost on Bobby. He supposed it was just their kind of humor. More punishment for his lack of devotion or some shit like that._

_He walked forward to examine the bars of the prison to see they were some sort of petrified vine, tightly woven so only slivers of the outside world were visible. As he watched, he saw the vines tighten slightly, indicating this was a living prison. He tried to peer out through the cracks, but all he could see was whiteness, like this cage existed on the blank canvass of what the world could be. He could sense from the moment he entered the dream that he wasn't alone, but he'd be damned if he was going to acknowledge whatever godling decided fuck up his sleep cycle._

"_I am no godling, Robert," a voice sounded from behind him. His shoulders slumped with realization, but he kept his back turned. If there was one god who was more of a waste of space than Mars, it was this one. She was the only one who called him Robert, and it annoyed the shit out him. He'd really been enjoying the past few weeks since Olympus had been closed. He'd never been more well-rested, but of course just when he needed quiet sleep, ring ring, Juno the Queen Bitch calling!_

"_Are you quite through feeling sorry for yourself?" Juno prissed. She was directly behind him now and he knew if he wasn't careful, she'd touch him. Touches from the gods always brought out his wild side, kinda like Mr. Hyde. He didn't really understand it, but they all knew it and liked to torture him with it. He took a few steps to his right and turned to face the goddess._

"_What do you want?" Bobby asked flatly. He noticed that his weariness didn't seem to affect him in this dream state._

"_To give you a warning," she replied ominously. "My time is very short and my powers are weak. As you can see, I am imprisoned." Bobby smirked, and started to laugh a bit maniacally. This was perfect. Whoever did this should get a medal._

"_This is not an amusing situation, Robert," she pouted._

"_Oh, I beg to differ," Bobby managed between guffaws. "I find it beyond hysterical." Despite his amusement, he pulled himself back into semi-control before Juno continued._

"_If I'm not released in three days time, by the Winter Solstice, I assure you, you will not find it so humorous. All of your friends, who you love so much more than your gods, will die and the gods along with them." Bobby sobered immediately. Juno was bitch, but she didn't overtly lie._

"_So, you want me to petition for a quest to come rescue you, I take it?" Bobby offered. The gods were always trying to get him to ask for quests. They also knew he was never assigned to any of them, and he figured that was the main reason they chose him for the task. Just another little dig._

"_No, that is a quest for another. No demigod in the Legions has the means to free me anyway. Your quest is different, yet no less important." What did she mean, 'no one in the Legions?' There weren't any other demigods. Then he realized she had told him he was finally getting a quest. Maybe this dream wasn't so bad after all._

"_Okaaay, so what is this warning you have for me, then?" Bobby wondered._

"_Beware of Percy Jackson."_

"_No shit, Sherlock. The freak's a menace and a loony," Bobby snorted. Nope, this dream was just as useless as all the others. Stupid gods._

"_He is extremely powerful, but he teeters on the edge. You must keep him safe," the goddess obfuscated. _

"_So which is it? Beware or keep him safe? I don't understand. Why don't you ask Reyna? She doesn't seem to hate him as much as I do," Bobby queried. Juno pulled her best goddess hand and totally evaded his questions with an enigmatic shrug. The dream started to fade._

"_That's it!" Bobby shouted to the quickly vanishing goddess. "You pull me out my powernap to give me some cryptic contradictory drivel about Sir Laughs-a-lot and then just, poof! without an explanation? I hate you self-serving pricks!"_

"_Finish your quest and you will have what you seek," Juno whispered into the growing darkness. _Well, duh,_ Bobby thought. Wasn't that the point of a quest? As the darkness became complete, he felt one last twinge of power against his mind._

His alarm was buzzing annoyingly as he retreated from dreamland. He lay in his bunk for a few moments recalling the conversation he'd just had with the goddess of misery, at least that's what he'd always figured she was, since all of the married people he'd known had been miserable. His thoughts turned from the asinine warnings she had tried to impart to where the dream had taken place and he realized what the last bit of power he'd felt had been. He remembered the cage and being able to see out of it, but for some reason all he could remember seeing through the bars of vines was whiteness. Well, wherever she was, she could rot for all Bobby cared.

He rolled out of bed and started to dress for the feast. By then the barracks were full as the rest of the First Legion was also dressing for the event. It was a formal occasion so full armor was required. After about half an hour of struggling with the now very heavy equipment, he walked to the locker room to check his appearance. Yep, now he was an _armored_ zombie, awesome. As he was walking out, he ran into Reyna exiting the girls' latrine, also in full formal armor.

"We need to talk," he beckoned her. She looked more recovered than he did. She wasn't splitting her soul across two people, but he knew she had to keep a corner of her mind in constant concentration on the spell or it would falter. He'd never been much of a multitasker and was impressed with how effortless she made it look. The look on his face must have been pretty convincing because she acquiesced immediately even though as Praetor she had plenty of other responsibilities to tend to.

"Where's the comedian?" he asked. She frowned for a moment in confusion, then apparently realizing who he was talking about, she gestured over towards the male sleeping quarters.

"Probably putting his armor on backwards," she smiled.

"He's been assigned to the First Legion?" Bobby almost shouted. "It took me four years to get this assignment, and he just waltzes in here, knocks in a few heads, cracks a few jokes and is at the top in four _hours_?" He couldn't believe it. Nobody just _started_ in the First Legion. It was an assignment won out of skill and respect.

"Not my decision, Bobby, the Council's," Reyna tried to mollify him. "I was giving Percy the tour of the coliseum when Dakota found us. He and the rest of the Praetors figured he would help fill our diminished roster. Mostly they just didn't want him after the wake of trouble that's been following him today. And besides, it's good for us since inter-Legion quests are almost never granted. Anyway, I have a lot to do. What did you want to talk about?"

"Percy," Bobby said solemnly. She frowned as he told her about the dream in as much detail as he could remember. As he continued, her frown only increased until he was finished.

"So, beware of Percy but also keep him safe, and assuming we finish quest, we'll find what we're looking for. Wow, really helpful, Bobby. No one's heard from the gods in weeks, and now Juno just shows up in your dream out of nowhere…to tell you this?" she sounded incredulous.

"Believe me, if I had my druthers, she'd have stayed silent," Bobby complained. "Anyway, I don't know what she meant or why she spoke to me instead of you. But those were her messages. Just thought you should know."

"Well, it's not very informative, and it's not worth worrying over until we actually have the quest. I need to go prepare. Can you make sure Percy's still whole?" Reyna walked off towards the common room without a backward glance. Bobby turned and walked into the guys' room to find a crowd of his comrades—weapons out—near Jason's old bunk. They all had pretty menacing looks on their faces, and Bobby had a sneaking suspicion what was causing the ruckus.

"Percy, what did you do this time?" Bobby swore the kid must be a son of Discordia with all the trouble that seemed to follow him.

"I don't know," Percy's voice called somewhat frantically from behind the crowd. Bobby waded through the throng until he reached the bunk where Percy was standing. He'd taken off his orange t-shirt, but hadn't gotten much further. Bobby could see why. Hiding under Percy's shirt was something he hadn't noticed before. A leather necklace with five bead charms hanging from it. Each bead had a unique design. One had a trident on it and another had a picture of a skyscraper with what looked like miniscule writing all around it. Bobby had never seen one of these necklaces in person. There was lore among the Legions that spoke of a vicious group of human enemies that preyed upon Legion questers. It hadn't happened since Bobby'd joined, but supposedly some legionnaires had escaped battles bringing back only fogged memories of the encounters. In all the accounts, the one thing most remembered by survivors, was that the enemies all wore leather neckwear with strange designs patterned into it. A couple had even said something about the color orange, but that was less reliable information. _Son of a bitch_! Juno's first message was becoming clearer. If Percy Jackson was who his comrades' thought he was, 'beware' wasn't the half of it.


	8. Chapter 8 Bobby

**A/N: Just so you know, I, Travis Jameson, will never, ever...be named poet laureate. I hope you like the prophecy, though. I slaved minutes over it. Also a special message for those of you who dig on Dakota from other fanfics you've read...Muuuaaahhahahahahahahahaha!**

_Chapter 8_

_Bobby_

"Alright, fellas, I'm sure it's just a coincidence," Bobby tried to calm the crowd. By now some of the girls had shown up to see what the ruckus was about.

"Coincidence, my ass! He's one of _them_," Brandon McCluskey, son of Fortuna accused. "The way he fought earlier, how he supposedly has no memories, how he hurt Hazel. He's a spy!"

"Come on, Brandon. If he were a spy, would he be stupid enough give himself away so easily," Bobby's persuasion lost some steam as he figured Percy probably was that dumb. He wasn't sure how Hazel's predicament was being spun to be Percy's fault, but it didn't help. Mob rule seemed to be setting in, and Bobby saw Percy take out his pen as a precaution. There wasn't much hope for the guy if he had to fight now; he was bare-chested while his opponents were mostly in full armor. Bobby was getting nervous until he heard the strict tone of command silence the crowd.

"Stop this, now!" Reyna entered and everyone hastily raised their drawn swords in solute. "What is the meaning of this? We're supposed to be outside forming ranks." No one answered her afraid she might hex them in some way. The crowd parted as she walked forward to see Bobby standing between the crowd and a shirtless Percy. Bobby saw her give Percy the once over with a glint in her eye almost of despair tinged with something more carnal. Then her eyes stopped on his necklace and her face darkened.

"Leave us!" she commanded. "Gwen, direct the formation in the courtyard. Bobby, you stay here." Reluctantly the soldiers sheathed their weapons and, with many a sidelong glance and much muttering, made their way out of the boys' quarters. When they were alone, Reyna lifted her eyes and glared at them. Bobby wasn't sure why _he_ was getting the stink-eye; he wasn't the supposed mortal enemy here. She walked past him and stopped in front of Percy. She reached out her hand fingered the strange necklace.

"Where did you get this, Percy?" she asked in a slightly disappointed voice. It was becoming clear to Bobby, that Reyna saw this guy as more than the bumbling idiot that he did. With the current revelation, he wasn't sure that was entirely wise.

"I don't know."

"Then why were you hiding it all day?" Bobby demanded when Reyna didn't respond.

"I-I wasn't, not on purpose anyway," he stammered weakly. Reyna lowered her hands to her hips, and Percy quailed under her piercing blue gaze. "Look," he rejoined, "I'm as frustrated as you guys are about this, I have no idea who, where or what I am. I don't know what this necklace is or what it means. Apparently something very different to your friends than whatever it used to mean to me. No one wanted to tell me anything, they just wanted me dead. Now, will you please explain?" he pleaded.

"Get dressed, we're already late. I'll fill you in on the way, and keep that thing covered," she pointed at the offending jewelry. She walked into the hall to allow Percy to finish donning his loaned armor. Bobby helped him get situated, and they joined Reyna. She told him about the old stories as they walked to the courtyard.

"We all thought it was just a legend or a ghost story," she finished, "but your presence here and that necklace will be enough to incite belief again. Just try to keep a low profile and stay near me. No one will hurt you under my protection…probably." They walked out into the courtyard to join the First Legion for the march to the mess area, but they'd already gone on without them. "Damn it, Gwen," Reyna muttered under her breath.

They ran out of the barracks to catch up with the First Legion before they marched into the mess, but it was too late. The rest of the base was deserted, and as they approached the dining area, it was eerily quiet. Certainly not what you might expect from a 150 feasting kids. They walked into the feast to see the entire army on its feet staring at them with myriad different expressions. Some showed fear, others anger, but most were tinged by some amount of curiosity. Bobby sighed, apparently Gwen couldn't keep her big mouth shut, not that it was a surprise. They walked toward the head table where the other Praetors sat. Bobby saw Dakota in his normal seat with James and Serah to his right. To his left was Reyna's empty spot and Curtis was filling in for Hazel in the next chair. They were all seated, but the same mixture of emotions played across their faces, mirroring their subordinates. The only person who looked calm and unaffected by their presence was the tall brunette standing in the center of the semicircle formed by the Praetors' seats. It took a moment for Bobby to realize someone was missing. Lupa was nowhere to be seen. She was not a permanent fixture at the base by any means, but she never missed Feast Day celebrations so it was significant that she wasn't here.

"Welcome, Perseus Jackson, I understand you've had quite a day," the brunette called out into the silence. Bobby glanced over to gauge Percy's reaction, but his face was a mask of stoicism. "Come forward you three. Normally the initiation rites would occur after the feast, but, as you can see, no one seems to be interested in food at the moment." As they walked forward toward the head dais, Bobby heard plenty of whispered conversations spring up throughout the dining hall. From what he could catch, he and Reyna were becoming pariahs simply because they'd chosen to vouch for the new guy. Bobby felt more than a little hurt at his near instant abandonment. They reached the circle of Praetors and the girl called Percy forward. "Kneel."

"Wait, Sam, where is Lupa?" Reyna interrupted. Bobby looked around and saw that he wasn't the only one who also wanted an answer this question.

"That's unclear," Sam, the tall brunette, replied with a sigh. She had a faraway look in her eye as she spoke. "It's clouded from me. For now all we can do is press forward with our duties and pray she arrives." She turned back to Percy, "Now, please kneel."

As he knelt, she stepped forward and stood in front of him. "My name is Samantha Coolidge, Sam to everyone here. I am the Legions' seer. Before your formal initiation I will attempt to determine your parentage." Bobby wasn't a huge fan of Sam. She was mortal, but that didn't bother him so much. She just thought she was better than everyone else by virtue of her sight. It didn't help that she was beautiful and smart. She was starting at Stanford next fall, accepted early decision. She didn't have to lord it over everyone though. She never talked to anyone unless she was performing her duties and she often wasn't even present. Tonight was the first time she'd been on base in over a month.

Bobby watched as she knelt down opposite Percy and placed her hands on his temples. Instantly, she arched her back and her eyes rolled back in a trance. He'd seen this countless times before, but it never worked when she touched him. Hers was like the touch of a god to him. He'd gone wild on her too many times for her to attempt a determination on him ever again. One of her hands came down to Percy's neckline and fished out the leather necklace. There were loud gasps and even one scream as all the rumors Gwen had started were confirmed. Usually, Sam would come out of her trance after a few moments to declare the initiate a child of this god or that goddess, but Percy's strangeness seemed to be rubbing off. Sam appeared frozen as she held Percy's head in one hand and the necklace in the other. Bobby was getting nervous, it never took this long, and he wondered what she was seeing and what the unique jewelry had to do with it. Suddenly, Sam broke out of her trance and fell back on her ass. She fixed Percy with a gaze full of fear and awe.

"Nothing, nothing but power," she rasped into the silence. She shook her head violently then regained some of her normal annoying superiority. "I searched every region of your mind for something, anything that would tell me who you are, but found nothing other than a reserve of power far greater than any demigod I've ever met. Your necklace is also significant to who you are, but the rest of you is…empty." For once, Bobby felt some sympathy for Percy. He knew what it felt like to be left in the lurch.

"Is there anything you can remember? Anything at all? Perhaps about the necklace?" Sam questioned.

"Nothing," Percy sighed, "nothing at all." Dakota rose off his chair and came forward to look at Percy's jewelry. Bobby admired Dakota for his ambition but had never been a fan of his methods. As a son of Vulcan, his concept of human feelings was a bit skewed. He already knew this was going to be their biggest challenge tonight.

"Has anyone told you about what a necklace like this means around here?" Dakota asked over-politely. Percy just nodded, and Dakota smiled without mirth. "Then you understand why many of my comrades mistrust you. Oh, not me! I assure you, I'm the best friend you'll have here." He smiled largely, but it never reached his eyes as he swung his arm around Percy's shoulder. Bobby took a step forward, but Reyna placed a calming hand on his arm.

"What are you playing at Dakota?" she asked warily as she stepped forward. This had to be some sort of power play for the Second Legion. They'd seen the opportunity to take a more dominant role in the Army with Jason out of the picture. Though most people liked her, they also thought Reyna wasn't a strong leader, an opinion likely reinforced by Gwen disobeying her orders and bringing the First Legion to the feast without her.

"Why, Reyna! I'm surprised you would think I have ulterior motives," Dakota feigned innocence. "I have nothing but greatest respect for Percy, here. I have to hand it to him, he doesn't leave a task unfinished. I mean, he trounced the entire Second and Third Legions this morning, and then when he found out there was an errant Third Legionnaire, why, he went and finished the job," he finished with a sneer as his motives became clear. He pulled out his gladius and pointed it at Percy's throat as he stepped and turned to face him.

Bobby realized Percy was the perfect scapegoat. Not only was the army already ill disposed towards him because of his supposed connection to an ancient enemy none of them had ever seen, but Reyna had vouched for him. If Dakota could fully turn the Legions against Percy by spinning his involvement with the Hazel scandal, Reyna would go down too. _Along with me_, Bobby thought with dread. Talk about being stuck between a rock and a hard place. Juno had assured him Percy had to be kept safe and alive, or his friends, everyone he cared about, would perish. But if he maintained his defense of Percy he would still lose all of his friends. He was almost tempted to go with the former option and give up Percy to the mercy of the mob. He and everyone he cared about would be dead, true, but it was almost preferable to all of them still being alive to despise him as a traitor. He sighed and reached down to loosen his twin daggers at his hips. _Me and my fuckin' conscience._ He exchanged a quick glance with Reyna and they both understood.

Dakota had his back to them so he couldn't see Reyna slip her hand to her own sword. Percy did though and he closed his eyes tightly. He was either resigning himself to three feet of imperial gold through the neck or concentrating on something intently. The rest of the army was waking up, and there were more than a few outcries for Dakota to finish the spy off. Suddenly, there came a massive cracking sound from the far corner of the pavilion where the fountain normally gurgled peacefully. Everyone's attention was instantly diverted from Dakota and Percy as they turned to see an impossibility. Bobby's eyes widened to the size of pancakes as a giant churning wall of water rose up out of the little fountain and descended on the entire congregation. Within seconds the entire army was drenched and spluttering. The soldiers who'd been crying for blood a moment ago were now staring around in bewilderment. Bobby turned back towards the standoff to find Dakota flung halfway across the central dais. When he saw Percy, Bobby knew why. There was what appeared to be a small happy meal sized hurricane swirling around Percy that looked powerful enough to have thrown Dakota a lot further. There had been moments in the initiation battle this morning where legionnaires had seemed to literally bounce off Percy, and Bobby wondered if this strange power had been why.

"Stop! I am not here to hurt you!" Percy pleaded to no one and everyone as the mini-cane died around him. "I don't even know who the hell you people are, or who the heck _I_ am. I'm not responsible for what happened to Hazel, but I swear if I could have prevented it, I would have gladly taken her place." His desperate pleas were met only with more shocked silence. No one there had ever seen such a display of raw power, not even from Jason who was a child of the king of the gods. Dakota was a little dazed as he sat up, but his worst injury seemed to be to his pride.

"What a freak! What kind of power was that?" he spluttered. He seemed to be the only person still in doubt as to the origin of Percy's massive power. Bobby figured it was probably willful ignorance as opposed to a true lack of understanding. Sam stepped toward Percy, obviously annoyed at being abruptly drenched, but if she was anything, it was a slave to her duty. She ignored Dakota's remonstrations as she began the initiation ceremony

"Perseus Jackson, the Legion Army of Roman Demigods formally welcomes you into her ranks. Your duty must always be to protect and serve your fellow legionnaires. Their lives now yours." Percy's sense of irony got the better of him and he smirked a bit. Both he and Bobby were literally sharing their lives with the Legions. Ok, well Percy was sharing his with a horse, but Bobby gave him the benefit of the doubt. He also shot him a warning glance that told him not to make light of this ceremony. "Honor the gods, sacrifice your life, and know your death does not belong to you. Perseus Jackson, do you accept the terms of your service?" Sam intoned.

"Um…sure." Bobby buried his face in his palm. It was going to be impossible for them to protect this guy if they stayed here much longer. He just didn't understand the Roman way. Even the five year-olds who joined knew more respect for the art of ceremony than Percy did. Luckily, Sam decided to ignore his lack of refinement.

"Reyna Monroe, Praetor of the First Legion, step forward," Sam continued. Reyna re-secured her gladius which she'd been grasping white-knuckled since before Percy stormed the castle. She walked forward towards Percy. As she did so she pulled the brand from a nearby brazier that had gone unnoticed until now.

"Perseus Jackson, as your Praetor, I pledge to lead you with all the wisdom and gr—grace the gods have provided me" Reyna faltered a bit as her own sense of the ironic kicked in. Jason had always joked about that line in the ceremony when he was Praetor. '_Of course I'll lead with Grace, how could I not?'_ It was always his worst joke. "If I should lead you to your death, it will not be in vain. Do you pledge to follow wheresoever I shall lead you, to serve me as I direct, and to place your life in my care?"

"I do," Percy replied this time without hesitation though he was looking at the brand with some apprehension. Bobby watched Reyna blanch at his choice of words. Usually people just said 'yes'. It was Bobby's turn to snicker a bit.

"By accepting this brand, you are forever bound to your pledges: to my service, to the service of the Legions, and to the gods. Perseus Jackson, do you accept?" Reyna didn't really phrase it like a question. She had to appear to command authority after the evening's previous embarrassments. If he said no, it was a sign of her weakness. Luckily, though he looked reluctant, Percy nodded his acceptance. He held out his right arm where he'd obviously seen the other soldier's brands. Reyna closed the distance and without further preamble pressed the brand into Percy's forearm. Some of the other Praetors liked to drag the process out with fancy flourishes and stupid shit like that. Reyna was probably just as nervous as Percy though, since it was her first induction ceremony and she just wanted it over with. Percy barely flinched as the brand was etched into his skin. Most kids screamed or at least whimpered a bit. Reyna removed the hot iron after a few seconds and held up Percy's arm.

"Legionnaires, I present to you Perseus Jackson, Son of Neptune!" Normally a child of the elder gods would be greeted with great fanfare, they were so rare. But the sodden assembly simply allowed their silence to drag on. Dakota who had been staring in shock from his front row ass-on-the-ground seat sprung up and ran between Reyna and Percy, breaking their arms apart.

"No! I do not accept this!" He proclaimed with fire in his eyes.

"Kota, he's proven himself worthy," Serah, youngest member of the Praetor Council and daughter of Minerva, spoke for the first time. She was 6 years younger than Dakota but had a huge crush on him.

"No, Serah, he's proven himself profoundly _unworthy_," he spat back at her. He shining eyes darkened at the rebuke. "Look how he mocks us with his cursed talismans and his useless show of power."

"Dakota, you had a sword to his throat," Bobby retorted. "I think he had pretty good justification for the water show."

"Please, even if I'd wanted to hurt him, he would have only gotten a scratch," he argued. "Did none of you notice it this morning? He's a freak. Look! He mocks us further!" Dakota grabbed Percy by the arm to show everyone what he meant. Percy's new brand wasn't a brand at all. Where there should have been raised red freshly cauterized wounds in the shape of the letters SPQR was only a fading red welt. "See, Reyna? He doesn't care about you, or us, or Hazel. He's only here as a spy. And now he's seen everything. He knows how we squabble amongst ourselves, how weak we are now after the past summer. Initiating him into the Legions is the last thing we should be doing with him!"

"Well, what do you suggest we _do_ do with him?" Curtis, son of Apollo and Pilus Prior of the Third Legion shot back at him.

"We have a dungeon don't we? Let's lock him up and make him tell us everything he supposedly doesn't know about his friends and what they're planning," Dakota offered with a sneer. While not everyone gathered was convinced, there was certainly a great deal assent from the peanut gallery. Bobby exchanged a worried glance with Reyna. This definitely was not going as planned.

"Dakota, let's cut the bullshit," Bobby cut in. "We both know you don't give a shit about Percy. Discrediting him is just a means to an end for you. So let's be straight, what will you do with your new power when you've knocked Reyna and the First Legion out of the picture? What do you think you can do that is so much fucking better, huh? Gods you are such a prick!"

"Why are you even speaking?" Dakota disdained. "You have no say in the Council's affairs, Pleb."

"But I do," Reyna spoke for him before Bobby had a chance to throw one of his knives at the pretentious asshole. "And I agree with him. Dakota, what's happened to you? You used to be my friend. I know we didn't always agree, but at least I respected you. And I thought you returned it, but this low-brow power grab is beneath you." He looked somewhat stricken by her comments for a moment, but soon regained his derisive demeanor.

"Fine, let's put this to a Council vote," he replied. "All those in favor of 'acceptance' of the traitor into our midst?" Reyna and Curtis raised their hands. Dakota smiled triumphantly as he completed the format of an official vote. "All in favor of dealing with the spy through appropriate…interrogation?" He and James raised their fists is affirmation. Dakota's smile faltered a bit. "Serah, how do you vote?" Percy who had been silent through the confrontation finally started to look a bit nervous.

"I abstain," Serah pronounced. Anger flared in Dakota's eyes and his nostrils flared. He apparently assumed he had her vote.

"Fine," he gritted through clenched teeth. "Sam, you have the authority to break the tie. How do you vote, acceptance or imprisonment?" Sam stepped forward and cast a baleful eye at Dakota and then at Serah for forcing her into the middle of the situation.

"I vote to—" Suddenly Sam let out a groan and collapsed to the ground. Golden smoke seemed to issue directly from her pores and she writhed on the floor in false ecstasy. Bobby'd only seen a golden prophecy once before, a couple months ago, when the next great prophecy had been issued. For most quests the prophecy was issued with green smoke and less…excitement. But then most prophecies came _after_ the quest was issued rather than before. All attention was shifted to Sam and her forthcoming words.

_Souls shared through mage's tie,_

_Travel east as dawn draws nigh._

_A frozen paradise in fiery sleep,_

_The fertile virgin's hand to keep._

_Undying stone shall answer the song,_

_Which speaks of death by hands alone._

_To Nature's bounty in godly shadow,_

_With royal fiends in lunar afterglow.  
_

_Should canis' love prevail o'er all,_

_The curse shall break and bring the fall._

As with the previous golden prophecy when she finished, Sam fell to the floor completely unconscious. Curtis, Apollo brood that he was, was the first to spring to her aid. Everyone else just stood and stared at her stupidly. This prophecy was actually somewhat more straightforward than most. Bobby figured he might be able to understand it after only his second PhD rather than the five or six you needed to decipher a normal soothsaying. When Curtis had mopped her brow with an icy rag and gotten her to drink a few sips of water, Sam struggled into a sitting position.

"What did I say?" she croaked. Serah, who had a near perfect memory, repeated to her the prophecy she'd just given. Silence descended again when she was finished. Bobby just kept repeating the words over in his head, desperately hoping they meant what he thought they did. It seemed pretty clear to him that he was finally going on a quest. Not just any quest, a _golden_ quest. There weren't many things in this world that could turn Bobby's constant pessimism and cynicism into school-boy giddiness, but he was finding it hard not to break into a huge grin. Who gave a shit if the rest of the prophecy spelled out lots of death, fiends and grand downfalls? He _had_ to be one of the questers. I mean, who the hell else besides he and Percy were sharing their souls though a magic spell? Bobby was so lost in thought he was missing the Council's still pending decision on the fate of Percy Jackson.

"—still waiting on your vote, Sam," Dakota was pressing.

"Don't you think the discussion is moot now? Percy is clearly listed as a participant on this quest," Reyna retorted. "Who else here could be symbolized by the trident?"

"Sam's vote will clear that question up then. Sam?"

"My vote is confirmed by the prophecy. Percy has to be accepted and must undertake this quest," Sam insisted.

"But how do we know the line is about him? Maybe it means the quest will be aided directly by Neptune," James spoke for the first time, his voice soft and raspy from disuse. As a son of Vulcan he preferred his inventions and crafts to the company of people.

"Exactly," Dakota grasped at the thin reed James had thrown him.

"It doesn't matter. Percy and Bobby are mentioned in the first line—" Reyna began reluctantly.

"How so?" Dakota interrupted. Bobby realized Reyna hadn't told anyone exactly what she'd done earlier that day. Everyone knew that Hazel and Roulette were in some sort of coma, but they didn't know that they were being kept alive by leeching off Bobby and Percy's life forces. He looked at Reyna and she was clearly uncomfortable. For some reason he couldn't fathom she didn't want the Council to know, or at least not the entire army. Maybe there was some stigma against that kind of magic he didn't know about. They exchanged a glance and he tried to send encouragement through his eyes. It must have worked because she revealed her sorcerous exploits of the afternoon, and based on the dark looks that passed over everyone's faces, Bobby figured his summation had been correct. This wasn't good magic. When she was done, the silence that fell could have been cut with a knife. Sam rose to her feet still a bit unsteady, but less distraught than the rest of the Council. Maybe because she was mortal, she didn't have as intuitive grasp on the wrongness of the situation, or maybe she was just as ignorant as Bobby. Knowing Sam, though, she was probably just filing this incident away as another reason she was better than the silly demigods.

"So it is decided, in the morning Reyna, Bobby and Percy will undertake this quest. First however, we have a feast to consume," She spoke to the crowd who snapped out of their reverie with noticeable longing. The event had been delayed by more than an hour now and everyone was still wet and uncomfortable. A good feast full of everyone's favorite comfort foods and hot beverages sounded all the more appealing. Bobby, stomach growling, was about to turn and join his comrades in the First Legion when Sam turned back to the Council and spoke so only the head dais could hear over the now growing roar of the feasting army.

"We will resume the Council meeting in private in three hours," she commanded, crossing the boundaries of her authority somewhat. To his surprise, the Council members including Reyna just nodded their assent. Sam turned to face the three of us. "I suggest you three go pack and prepare. The meeting will last most of the night and you leave first thing in the morning." They were summarily dismissed without so much as a scrap of ham or a side salad. Dakota looked slightly pleased as though their rejection was in some way his victory. He was probably right, plus he'd be rid of Percy by breakfast tomorrow morning regardless of the outcome of the Council's vote. Bobby was feeling rebellious again before Reyna stopped him.

"Let's go. I won't stay where I'm not wanted."

**A/N: Please note, I've edited this chapter to change Dakota's parentage to fit later events. His godly lineage doesn't really matter in this chapter, but it does in later ones. **


	9. Chapter 9 Percy

_Chapter 9_

_Percy_

The infirmary lay cloaked in early morning silence as stray moonlight shone through the window in the corner. It gave the convalescents an ethereal, ghostly air. The room smelled of honey and fresh flowers, very different from the antiseptic smell that Percy remembered from hospitals he had visited sometime in his unknown past. Why could he remember the unpleasant smell of sickness but nothing of his life, his friends, his family? Did he even have a family? Well, he certainly had a father, a fact made abundantly clear earlier that evening. So much had happened, it felt like a lifetime ago that Percy had revealed himself so spectacularly rather than merely a few hours. After Bobby, Reyna and he had left the banquet, they'd trudged back to the First Legion barracks to gather their things, not that Percy had anything to gather. Reyna had drifted into a disconcerting silence so Bobby had given him the rundown on LARD politics, and Percy thought he had a pretty good understanding of the current situation. The Council meeting had shattered those delusions. He couldn't believe a group of kids so young could care so much about power and politicking. Percy had always figured those games were for people whose hormones were broken, like old people.

Percy was lost in introspection as the Council bickered about the various meanings of the prophecy when he finally realized he'd been left with every memory and opinion that defined his personality but nothing specific about events or people. The fact that his memory loss was so selective had confirmed to him that it was not natural, that it had been stolen from him. At that moment, his traitorous mind had chosen to recall the snippet of dream he'd remembered so long ago that morning. Even that recollection was fading. All he'd been able to relate to the Praetors was that he had met Jason and Hera in a dream and that Hera had offered them something. The uproar that small amount of memory had caused made Percy wonder if he wasn't better off not remembering his past life. Not only had Percy met the elusive Jason, but he'd named the goddess Hera rather than Juno. The supreme jackhole Dakota would have finished his decapitation protocol if Reyna hadn't snapped out of her trance to erect a magical barrier in front of Percy. Dakota had run headlong into it and been flung on his ass across the room. Percy liked seeing the jerk dazed and supine, he deserved it.

The Council had attempted to dissect the prophecy with little luck. The first lines had been fairly obvious. Percy and Bobby were the one's sharing souls, Reyna was the magician and they were going to travel east. Since Reyna said the spell would only last until New Year's, they figured that '_as dawn draws nigh'_ was metaphorical for the beginning of a new year. It also didn't hurt that they would be leaving at dawn the following morning. The rest of the prophecy, though debated furiously, eluded the Council's understanding and was left to play out as the quest unfolded. The only thing agreed upon was that the final two lines were a warning. Percy gathered that was unusual, a piece of a prophecy that could be changed without disaster ensuing. Unfortunately, without knowing what the _curse _or the _fall_ meant it was difficult to decide which outcome would be worse. Nor could they figure out who '_canis'_ referred to.

Percy, who'd spent a good portion of the evening stealing worried glances at Reyna, thought he'd seen a hint of panic in her eyes during this discussion, but she didn't say anything. He wasn't sure why he was so concerned about this mysterious girl he'd only just met. He assumed it was because she was the only person in this wacked out place he could trust. Bobby seemed nice enough, but something about him sat funny in Percy's gut. Reyna just seemed open to him and had repeatedly vouched for his trustworthiness though she didn't know him from Adam. And the way her stark blue eyes seemed to soften when they met his tugged at his lost memory like a child pulling insistently at his mother's pant leg for attention. He felt like he should remember eyes like hers. She had met Percy's gaze once during the meeting with an indiscernible expression, but through that glance she had made clear Percy should stay silent and not draw any more attention. In the end, the meeting had lasted well into the morning hours and had resolved next to nothing. All Percy knew was that he would be leaving in the morning and traveling east. No destination had been decided upon nor a specific goal.

Until about fifteen minutes ago, Percy had been lying awake in Jason's old bunk staring at the ceiling. He'd given up trying to sleep and was just trying to settle his mind when he felt a strange urge to go to check on Hazel and Roulette. Curtis had assured them both were stable. But something was telling Percy to look in on them once more before the quest departed. So now he found himself in the center of the infirmary taking in the smell of nectar and ambrosia and the ghostly visages of the two comatose patients still wondering what had drawn him here. He sighed and took a small step forward to place his hands, one each on the footboards of the two beds. He closed his eyes and tried to feel his connection to the young pegasus. He knew it was useless; Reyna had put its soul completely to sleep. Suddenly the smell of honey and flowers increased sharply and Percy heard a step behind him.

"I know what you are," he sighed as he turned around to face the figure that had entered the infirmary. "I just wish I could remember _who_ you are."

"That would be extremely difficult, even if you had your memories," the goddess before him responded. "We've never met. I am Anna Perenna, goddess of the cycle of the year. You may call me Anna."

"Anna…" Percy trailed off as the goddess' name rung a strange chord on his tongue. Here again was a memory he couldn't quite grasp. Somehow it felt connected to Reyna's effect on him, but the result was different. This recollection gave him a sense of strength and stability whereas Reyna's gaze left him weak, though not altogether unpleasantly so. "Are you sure we've never met? Your name is…" he struggled with the word. Familiar wasn't correct because nothing was familiar.

"No, Perseus, we have never met," the goddess replied with a strange force behind her words. As suddenly as the feeling of recognition arose, with her voice it was gone completely. Percy noticed the deity's appearance seemed to shift as though she was experiencing the changing seasons in fast forward. In the space of heartbeats, she would morph from snow boots and a parka to rain gear to a bikini and sarong to a comfy sweater and scarf and back again. It wasn't only her clothing that changed though. Her eye color changed from icy blue to stormy grey to bright green to hearth-warmed nut brown as she traversed the seasons. The changes occurred so quickly, Percy had to close his eyes briefly to steady himself. Noticing his vertigo, the goddess settled into a California winter outfit of skin tight leggings, fur-lined knee boots, oversized grey cable-knit sweater, extra-long aqua scarf, a loose-knit white wool tam and light blue-grey eyes. Her long, straight, dark hair flowed loosely down her back. "I apologize, Percy. I so rarely interact with mortals I forget my appearance can be unsettling."

"It's okay. I think my seizure's passed," he assured her cynically. Anna smiled briefly before her sober expression returned. "If you don't like people, why are you here now? What do you want with me?" Percy continued warily. One of those personality defining memories he still had told him interactions with gods rarely ended well.

"Do not misunderstand me, Percy. Though I don't often mingle with heroes and mortals, I bear them no ill will," the goddess refuted, "quite the opposite actually. Unlike most of the other gods, mortals still revere my feast day. They moved it without my permission a millennium ago or so, but I'm fairly forgiving. Luckily I can head south where it makes some sense to start a new year in January…" Anna continued rambling on about New Years' celebrations in Brazil and Australia with a far off look in her eye and a wistful smile on her face. Percy began to chuckle in spite of himself at her fervor. He'd been laughing a lot today, and he knew it got on the Romans' nerves. They thought he was making fun of them, but it was just a defense mechanism. In truth, Percy was scared shitless, and who wouldn't be? He had no memories, had gotten chased by a wolf, almost been skewered multiple times, birthed a horse, been subjected to a doom spell, almost been beheaded, and now was face to face with a goddess all in less than 24 hours. The goddess looked up and noticed him shaking his head ruefully as he laughed. "Sorry, I don't have many chances for conversation these days. Guess I miss it a bit."

"No worries, I was laughing at myself mostly anyway," Percy assured her. She smiled a bit shyly, and Percy realized she was actually pretty cute. _Duh! She's a goddess_, he thought. He caught his breath as she looked at him from under her long eyelashes. Struck dumb as he was, several seconds passed before she finally spoke.

"Well, I've rambled enough," she began as he she regained her composure. "We don't have much time and I need your help. In return, I have a gift for you."

"What do you need from me?" Percy asked warily. His vague memories told him the gods rarely asked for anything small.

"I need to speak to the horse," Anna replied simply. Percy just stared at her.

"You know he's basically dead, right? Maybe you should be asking a son of Hades-"

"Pluto, Percy, Pluto," Anna corrected. "You need to be careful around here with those names. Remember what happened at the Council meeting? Your quest is too important to be delayed by semantics. And no, you are exactly who I need to help me. You and the horse are connected and not just by the magic. I'm sure you noticed you can talk to the other pegasi? That is because your father Neptune created horses so you, as his son, can speak to them. We're going to use both the spell and your filial talents to reach for Roulette." Percy gave her a quizzical look. He almost told the goddess he'd just tried to reach the horse with no success. But, he figured maybe with divine help…

He leaned forward over the horse, closed his eyes and placed his hand on Roulette's shoulder. Instantly he felt a shock of power tingle underneath his finger tips. He reached again along the extension of his own soul searching for the pegasus, but even with the physical contact, Percy met only emptiness. He opened his eyes and looked resignedly at Anna Perenna. She returned his gaze with encouragement and took his hand. She guided it back to the horse, and when his fingertips again grazed the colt's shoulder, Percy felt himself travel much further than he'd allowed himself before. The gentle support of the goddess' hand resting on his forearm sustained him as he poured himself fully into Roulette. Again he was met with a vast nothingness, and he marveled at Reyna's power to completely suppress the young animal's will to live. He was despairing of ever finding the pegasus' consciousness when he felt a small flutter against his mind.

_Lord?_ an incomprehensibly weak thought flowed toward Percy.

"Roulette?" he grasped desperately. "Is that you?"

_Yes, Lord, _the colt whispered. _It hurts, Lord. Let me sleep, please! _The earnestness of Roulette's plea almost made Percy acquiesce, but before he could pull away, he was overtaken by the force of the goddess' mind. She shoved his consciousness to the side and used his soul as conduit. He could tell that Anna and the colt were conversing, but their discourse was faster than his mind could form thoughts and he picked up little. From the cheap seats of his own soul, all Percy could gather was that they were discussing the affliction affecting the pegasi and their hindered birth rates. What great insight a newborn might be able to offer, he didn't know, and he was never enlightened. After only a few moments during which Anna and Roulette had spoken the equivalent of hours, Percy felt the horse drifting back into quiescence.

_I promised you a gift in return for your assistance, _the goddess sent directly to Percy's mind as he was traveling back to his own consciousness. _You shall travel east with the rising sun._

"I already know that," Percy shot back impatiently.

_Yet you do not know your destination. I am the goddess of the cycle of the year. I am inexorable and regular. Though life is often unstable and volatile, the year inevitably turns over and renews its cycle faithfully. You must travel east to find the place where great instability has bred faithful order just as in the cycle of years. Be warned, however, you will face a great challenge and without trust, you shall surely fail. Thank you, Percy, and farewell._ Percy felt the goddess slip away from his mind as he floundered looking for meaning in the so called gift she'd given him. He gave it up as a lost cause and finished his journey back to himself. He knew before he opened his eyes that Anna was gone. He also knew he wasn't alone.

"What do you think you're doing?" a stricken voice complained as he became aware of himself again. Percy opened his eyes to find a disheveled and distraught Reyna standing across from him with her gladius in hand. He was actually surprised it wasn't pointed at him. It seemed to be all the rage these days. She looked as though she'd sprinted here from the barracks, her breath fast and deep. Her few hours of sleep had obviously been violent judging by the distress of her long black hair and her twisted pajamas.

"Um…trying to talk to the horse?" he proposed lamely avoiding her eyes. He felt helpless enough as it was, he didn't need to see the disappointment in her eyes. He only just realized, stirring Roulette's life force would have disturbed the spell Reyna was constantly holding in place. Percy wondered if her dreams were related to the strain of spell maintenance.

"Why? You know he's out of reach," she pleaded.

"I did it for Anna." If possible, Reyna's expression turned even more stricken and almost panicked. Then her shoulders dropped and her gaze fell to the floor.

"Who's Anna? Is she your girlfriend? Did you just remember her?" she asked meekly. The affront of tampering with her spell seemed to take a back seat, and Percy had to wonder if it were possible for him to be any more of a jerk.

"No, I still haven't remembered much of anything, let alone whether I have a girlfriend or not," Percy mollified. "Based on your friends' reactions to me, I doubt it. I don't seem to be very likeable." Reyna didn't raise her head, but her body regained some of its normal vivacity and Percy thought she might have been hiding a smile. "Anna is Anna Perenna."

"The goddess of the new year?" Reyna's eyes jumped up in shock to meet his. "I don't know anyone who's ever met her. Why was she here?"

"Really?" Percy replied sardonically.

"Oh! Right, the horse, got it," Reyna stammered sheepishly. "So what did she want to talk to Roulette about? Why did she need you?"

"Well, since I can talk to horses and I'm sharing my soul with him, she decided to piggy back off me to the get in touch with Roulette. I didn't catch much of the conversation though. I kinda got shoved into the peanut gallery. I think they were talking about some problem with pegasus breeding." Percy had already written off the conversation as beyond his need to know. Reyna seemed somewhat disturbed though.

"What would Anna Perenna have to do with pegasus procreation?" she pondered. Her brow furrowed as she began to pace the room in thought.

"Dunno," Percy responded profoundly. He walked across the room to sit on the edge of an unoccupied bed. "I didn't think to ask. She had something more important to tell me." Reyna halted and broke her reverie.

"What did she tell you?" Percy related the last message the goddess had sent him as she vaporized. Reyna looked at him with open despair. Her gladius dropped from her hand to clang garishly against the floor. The sound was distinctly out of place in the cold silence of the morning. She looked at Percy helplessly, her blue eyes filling, then sank dejectedly next to him on the bed with her head in her hands.

"What the hell does that even mean?" she sobbed into her hands. Percy was keenly aware of how close she was. When she sat, the bed sank and drew them together hip to hip. Every time she breathed, her elbow brushed against his arm. He knew he needed to think about what the goddess had said, but he found it rather difficult to concentrate on anything other than Reyna's shuddering breaths and his rising adrenaline.

"I-I wish I knew," Percy soldiered on trying to focus. Reyna only continued to snuffle. They had no hope of figuring anything out while she was incapacitated. He realized that just in the past five minutes she'd gone through a withering array of emotions, from anger to dejection to hope to confusion to utter helplessness. On top of everything else that had happened that day, he couldn't believe she was still conscious. Cautiously, Percy circled his arm around Reyna's shoulders and pulled her into what he hoped was a comforting shoulder to shoulder embrace. He felt her stiffen for a moment before she turned and buried her face in his chest weeping openly. He held her like that, awkwardly rubbing her back while she cried herself out. Before long his shirt was soaked with tears. He didn't try to say anything and she seemed grateful for the chance to let out her frustration in silence. Eventually her breathing calmed and became regular. It was another minute or so before Percy realized she was asleep. This was probably the calmest moment she'd had all day and he didn't feel it would be right to disturb her. He let her sleep against his chest as he looked out the moonlit window and pondered the tumultuous events of the day. Eventually Reyna shifted to curl up with her head in Percy's lap. As he looked down at the mysterious girl sleeping on his knees, he again felt that twinge of weakness as if she was the one drawing on his life energy rather than the colt. As the pleasant diminishing washed over him, he felt a burning sensation on his arm. He didn't need to look to know that the brand he'd received earlier was resurfacing. He could feel the letters etching into his skin. He wondered whether it was the brand or his skin that was magic. Whichever it was, Reyna was obviously the catalyst. He glanced out the window again and figured there were still a couple of hours before dawn. He laid back promising himself to ask Reyna about the phenomenon in the morning. For now, though, he drifted off into a deep dreamless sleep.


	10. Chapter 10 Percy

**A/N: Muuaaahhahahaha! Teenage relationships are so deliciously awkward. I finished this chapter much quicker than expected, mostly because it was fun.**

* * *

_Chapter 10_

_Percy_

Pale sunlight filtered by the morning fog drifted through the infirmary, but it wasn't the brightness that had awoken Percy. Someone was shouting his name. He looked around in slight confusion as he took in his surroundings. As the miasma of sleep lifted, he began to remember the events of earlier that morning. He tried to rise to a sitting position but found himself blocked by an unexpected weight. He looked down and saw that at some point, Reyna had shifted again to lie with her head on his chest, arm draped over him in a too pleasant restraint. _Well, this is awkward_, he thought. He decided directness was the best approach and reached over with his free hand to gently nudge her shoulder. Unfortunately, rather than the desired waking effect, Reyna moaned softly and snuggled closer. Percy was now feeling desperate. By the insistent sound of the voice calling their names, someone, likely Bobby, was avidly hunting for them. It would be pretty damned embarrassing to be found like this.

"Reyna!" he whispered furiously, jostling her more firmly. "Reyna, wake up." She moaned again contentedly and began to slowly stir. He really wished she would hurry and wake up, the searcher was definitely getting closer, and it didn't sound like Bobby after all. Finally, Reyna reached up and rubbed her eyes, squinting in the morning light. She froze for a moment as she discovered exactly where she was. For a moment, she just stared at Percy's chest before she slowly turned her face towards him. He saw a strange mixture of emotions cross her face from confusion to recognition and briefly he thought he caught small glimpse of something triumphant before her expression turned to shock. She pushed herself up violently with one elbow on the bed and her other hand pushing on his sternum. He grunted a bit as she pushed the air out of his lungs, but she just hovered over him unable to move any further from astonishment. Despite her rumpled pajamas, mussed hair and obvious tear tracks from the night before, Percy found his breath caught from her beauty nearly as much as from her fist in his chest. Regrettably, that image was going to be the highlight of Percy's morning. Everything started to go downhill as the infirmary door slammed open while they were still locked in each other's surprised gazes.

"Where the hell have you two—What the fuck?" _Definitely not Bobby_. Reyna broke first and jumped off the bed hastily, managing to knee Percy firmly in the groin in the process. Percy obviously was not meant to breathe this morning. He immediately curled into a fetal position and rolled on his side in pain, promptly falling off the edge of the bed. It was only as his body was recovering from the acute pain of the Reyna's clumsiness that he realized his whole body ached. He wondered if the burden of his soul sharing was worsening or if it was something similar to the strange reappearance of his brand. As he shook off the stars swimming in front of his eyes, he immediately wished he was still delirious. Reyna was furiously trying to straighten disheveled appearance while the last person Percy wanted to see was standing over him, that same mirthless smirk he'd beguiled Percy with at the feast last night splashed across his face.

"Well, well, Mr. Jackson," Dakota crooned. "And Miss Monroe! What have we here?" His voice dripped with sickening sweetness. "You know, I coaxed myself to sleep last night with the idea that when I woke up, both of you would be gone along with animal boy, and I wouldn't have to deal with you, hopefully ever again. But this—" he gestured grandly over the two of them, "this is just _too _good."

"Dakota, th-this isn't what it looks like," Reyna stuttered, but her now crimson face undermined her words. "We weren't—"

"Oh no, there's no need to explain" Dakota interrupted. He made an over dramatic show of sniffing the air. "Mmmm! Smell those pheromones! I think it's fairly obvious what was going on in _here_ last night," he continued with an exaggerated wink at Percy.

"Really?" Percy performed a few tentative sniffs. It still smelled mostly like honey and some unrecognizable flower to him. When Reyna had been cuddled next to him though, he'd been able to detect a hint of lilac and vanilla. Percy's eyes glazed over as he remembered Reyna's scent and the vulnerable feel of her body pressed against his. He was brought out of his reverie by Dakota's bark of laughter.

"You really are naïve aren't you, Jackson?" he scoffed. "You know before this little incident there was always the slight possibility that you three might actually succeed in this foolish errand and, gods forbid, return. Now, according to regulations, I can just have you banished. Oh, you can still go on your little quest," Dakota quieted their complaints. "Hazel's a useful person to have around; I'd hate to lose her for good. Can't say the same for you two, though."

"Dakota, you know that dating rule is bullshit. No one abides by it and no one enforces it," Reyna protested. His smile widened.

"So you _are_ dating, then?"

"Wha—? N-no! I don't—" Reyna struggled as she blushed even deeper. Percy felt his own heat rising; the situation was getting out of hand quickly.

"Woah! Slow down there, Skippy. We're all on the same team here, remember?" Percy interjected desperately. "Let's not get carried awa—"

"The same team, Jackson?" Dakota butted in. He seemed to take a special joy in interrupting people, and it was really getting on Percy's nerves. "I think that matter is still up for debate. We still know nothing about you, and you've already attacked us once with your aquatic spectacle. And now I catch you seduc—"

"_I_ attacked _you_?" Percy broke in. _Hypocrite._ "Since I got here, I've been held at sword-point, threatened, mauled, and slandered repeatedly." He rose to his feet, stepping closer to Dakota menacingly. "You all _needed_ a cold shower."

"I'm pretty sure _we're_ not the ones in need of a cold shower" Dakota smiled. He turned towards Reyna, his expression darkening. "And as for the dating rule, it's more than that, Monroe. You've been caught fraternizing with a suspected enemy. Sounds like treason to me, wouldn't you all say so?" He stepped aside to reveal the doorway where the rest of the Council, Sam and Bobby were standing with various expressions on their faces. Bobby was having a tough time deciding whether to laugh or scowl. Sam held a look of disappointment. She seemed to have some affinity to Reyna that didn't exist with the rest of the Praetors, and it was obvious she thought Reyna had let her down somehow. James looked stern and seemed to be following his strict Dakota-is-always-right policy. Curtis, unaccustomed to his position, just looked confused, and young Serah was blushing to the roots of her hair, apparently scandalized by their perceived indiscretion. Percy's ire slipped away to be replaced by an empty despair. Dakota wouldn't lose the Council vote this time. Figuring he couldn't really make it any worse, he reached out and took Reyna's hand.

"Come on," he surrendered, squeezing her hand in support. "Let's go change and say our goodbyes. We won't be returning…for a while." He didn't think she was ready to accept total defeat, but her dejection was clear as her head dropped to her chest. She appeared to lose all of her built up tension as they walked towards the door, but the death grip on Percy's hand told him otherwise. They passed the gathered witnesses in silence and plodded despondently across the forum towards the barracks. They walked in silence until the infirmary was out of sight when Reyna finally released his hand.

"Reyna—" Percy began, but he wasn't sure if he had the right words. He needed to apologize; that was clear. In less than 24 hours, he'd managed to completely capsize her life. Talk about your bad first impressions, but though she had the most cause, she was still one of the only people in this craphole who _didn't_ want to kill him. At least, he didn't think she was feeling murderous. These Romans seemed to fly off the handle without much warning. Their high-strung demeanor—even the young ones he'd seen screaming for his head the night before—was so much at odds with his laid-back personality that he felt no real sadness at the prospect of banishment. Something about the place didn't seem to fit him. Reyna was a different story. She'd lived here most of her life, and now she was being forced to leave her home, her family. Percy was glad for once he had no memories. He knew he wasn't at home here, but at least he didn't remember what he was missing. Reyna would have to live with the knowledge that her life was being left behind her.

"I can't leave Gwen in charge," she mumbled almost to herself. Girls were amazing, in the middle of a huge personal crisis, they could still think about things like the chain of command. Percy shook his head in disbelief.

"Aren't there more important things to be worrying about? Like kicking the shit out of me?" he prodded. She turned and gave him a wry smile.

"If you think all of this is your fault, you are giving yourself _way_ too much credit."

"Well, everything did kinda hit the fan when I showed up," Percy rejoined.

"No, the shit storm started when Jason left," Reyna replied softly shaking her head. "He was the only one keeping the legions from flying to pieces. The war took a huge toll on the army and not just physically. Everyone respected Jason's power after defeating Krios, and his discipline and sense of duty set a strong example. It was only a matter of time once he left before things fell apart. No, if this is anyone's fault, it's mine."

"Wait, what? Shouldn't it be Jason's fault?" Percy was thoroughly confused now. Reyna, seeing his expression, laughed genuinely for the first time since he'd met her.

"It's amazing how well confusion fits your face." Somberness stole over her face again as she continued, "I drove him away, Percy. The night before he left, I confessed my feelings for him. Then the coward ran." Her final words were laced with venom, but the real poison seemed to be infecting Percy's gut. He couldn't really explain why, but he did _not_ like that Reyna had feelings for this Jason character. He thought back to the snippet of dream he'd remembered, and he was pretty sure Jason had been an insufferable jackass. Why would she like some puffed up pretty boy like him anyway? Despite his better judgment, he calmed his raging stomach and took the diplomatic route.

"Maybe his disappearance then was just a coincidence." Percy tried to keep his voice level, but he noticed she looked slightly disappointed at his statement. "Maybe Hera stole him just like she did me. I can't imagine why anyone would run out on you." Instantly, he regretted his words. She turned her face away, but he could see tears shining in her eyes. He was getting really good at making this girl cry. He took her by the shoulders and turned her back towards him. Her head remained bowed, still refusing to meet his gaze. "Rey, I-I'm sorry. Seems all I'm really good at is hurting you." She stiffened under his touch and she raised her face, an angry glint in her glistening eyes.

"Don't call me that," she gritted, her voice rising. "You—you don't get to call me that!" she spat through a choking sob as she pulled violently out of his grasp. She turned her back on him and breathed heavily in silence, obviously trying to stop her tears. "You'd better go get cleaned up and ready. We leave in half an hour," she ordered civilly. She stalked off towards the barracks leaving Percy standing dumbfounded in the fog. Were all girls this completely irrational, he wondered. Something from his vague memory told him, yes and that he'd just have to learn to live with it. He figured he should cut Reyna some slack considering current events, but the breadth and quickness of her mood swings were impressive. Percy shook his head and followed Reyna at a distance back to the First Legion barracks to shower and throw together a few of the borrowed clothes and supplies he'd received. He tried his best to put the embarrassment of the morning's events behind him, but his traitorous mind would have none of it. Reyna's behavior was frustrating, but at least it was intriguing and she seemed to have some sort of affection for him, even if it was on hiatus at the moment. Dakota on the other hand, was just a dick. But he wasn't stupid, and that really pissed Percy off. Dakota knew nothing indiscrete had happened between him and Reyna, but that didn't matter. He took advantage of an innocent albeit somewhat compromising situation and twisted it for his own disturbed power games. The worst part was that Percy didn't think Dakota was really evil, just hungry. He wondered if they would be on different footing were Percy not a perfect stepping stool for his ambitions. He was chuckling at his own pun when Bobby found him.

"And what the hell is so frickin' funny this time? Does making Reyna cry get your rocks off or something?" Bobby accused as he strode angrily up to Percy, poking him in the chest with a callused finger.

"What? No, I-I was just thinking about Dakota," Percy stammered his rebuttal as he put down the backpack he'd been packing. Bobby grunted and crossed his arms over his chest as some of the anger left his face.

"Well, can't blame you for that. If there's a more laughable jackhole than Dakota, I've never met him," Bobby acquiesced. He remained silent for a moment while he considered Percy. He had something he wanted to say, and Percy could almost hear him rehearsing the best way to word it in his head. "Look, I don't know what did or didn't happen this morning with you and Rey—"

"Nothing! We just—" Percy tried to interject, but Bobby cut over him.

"—and I don't want to know. Regardless, it was significant." He pointed to Percy's now bare forearm where the ghost of an outline of his brand was visible. It was still not as deeply scarred as any of the other legionnaires, but his skin was not as smooth and unblemished as it had been the night before when the newly marked area had rejuvenated itself. "I saw that disappear last night, which was freaky enough, but now it's coming back? I don't say this often about anything or anyone, but you scare me, Percy. I don't agree with Dakota's methods, but I can't say I'm altogether certain his isn't right in permanently removing you from this base. You carry so much mystery about you…Juno was right to be wary of you."

"Wait," Percy stopped him. "You spoke to Hera about me? When? What did she say?"

"You see, right there is what I'm talking about. Why the hell do you call the gods by their dead names? I just don't understand you, and that weirds me the fuck out."

"Then why don't you go join up with the mob calling for my head." Percy flipped his hand toward the door in rising frustration. He didn't trust Bobby like he did Reyna, but he was the only other person in this misfit outfit who'd stuck up for him. And now it seemed like he'd been put up to it by a goddess rather than of his own volition. A horrifying thought occurred to him; maybe Reyna's trust wasn't real either. The suspicion made the morning's events seem cheap and dirty rather than genuine. Even though he'd protested that nothing happened between them, he thought he'd felt a growing connection. Now all he felt growing was resentment. Was she just leading him on? Were all these Romans the same?

"Because," Bobby was continuing, "unlike the ignorant masses, I like to learn whether my fears are reasonable before I act on them. It's why I'll never rise very high in the army ranks. I'm a horrible politician." Despite his rising bile, Percy laughed.

"Well, you have a healthy sense of humor, I'll give you that," Bobby smirked before he grew serious again. "The fact remains though that you are a great big ball of unknowns, and for some reason I'll never fathom, Reyna likes you. It's a dangerous combination."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Percy rebuffed. "Maybe she was just being nice to me 'cause Hera—uh, _Juno_ told her to be. Plus, I think I pissed her off pretty good a few minutes ago." Bobby surprised him by letting out a hearty chortle.

"Yes you did!" he snickered. "And no, she was working on a crush well before Juno spoke to me. Trust me, she doesn't want to admit it, but she likes you. Why do you think she death blossomed when you were so familiar with her?" Percy's spirits brightened somewhat, until Bobby continued, "Don't encourage her."

"Is that a threat?" Percy rejoined, somewhat taken aback.

"No, just advice. I don't like that last warning from the prophecy, and it might be best if no one had any romantic inclinations on this journey. Just a precaution." Percy thought about the prophecy, and he saw Bobby's point but still wasn't convinced. _Should canis' heart prevail o'er all / The curse shall break and bring the fall._ Curses were usually bad, but _the fall_ could go either way depending on who or what was doing the falling. And they were all still vague on who _canis_ referred to. For now though, he figured there was no harm following Bobby's advice. Besides, he probably needed give Reyna some time and space to cool off. He nodded solemnly to Bobby who returned it with a sad smile.

"Ok, let's go, Rey's probably waiting," Bobby suggested. Percy picked up his backpack and turned to walk back to the forum where they would meet Reyna. "So, what _did _happen this morning?"

"I thought you didn't want to know," Percy accused.

"I lied." Percy scowled at him but relayed the story of his visit with Anna Perenna.

"So that's why Reyna flew out of here like her ass was on fire," Bobby laughed when he told him about waking up Roulette for the goddess. "So what was the gift Anna gave you?"

"Supposedly an initial destination, but all I got was another frickin' riddle," Percy snorted. He conveyed the goddess' message rather disinterestedly. Bobby's features were thoughtful as he mulled the instructions over. The expression seemed rather foreign on his gruff, wild face.

"Faithful order…" he pondered softly. Suddenly, excitement spread across his wearied features and he grabbed Percy's arm. "Follow me!" Bobby dragged him to the left around the forum where Reyna was no doubt waiting in growing annoyance. Percy saw they were headed for the Senate building, but to an entrance he'd not seen the previous day. As they approached, he saw the word _Bibliotheca_ inscribed in the stone above the door. He didn't have to wait long for a translation because it was obvious upon entry that they were in the LARD library. Bobby walked off towards their right and perused a few aisles' contents looking unsure of where he would find whatever he was looking for. Percy had no idea what had triggered in Bobby's brain so he wandered down the central corridor, looking at the various objects on display. One of the cases in particular caught his attention. It contained a massive war helm with a full face guard. Growing out of either side of the helmet was a giant set of curved ram's horns. The sign on the case said it was the Helm of Krios, which of itself meant nothing to Percy. But as he looked at the helm, that strange sense of recognition tugged at his mind again. He was certain he'd seen this headgear before, and then it had been occupied. Underneath the object identifier in smaller italic script was the name _Jason Grace_. He guessed that meant the Helm had been obtained by Jason Grace. As he stared at the name, the sense of recognition became much stronger. But it wasn't the first name that called on his lost memories. He already knew he'd met Jason in the dream with Hera and that that was likely the only time they'd ever met. But his last name, Grace, wrenched at memories he thought were older and more significant. Percy grasped desperately at those memories, but all he could retain was something about Barbie, which made absolutely no sense and left him with a headache.

"Found it!" Bobby called from across the library. Percy shook off his delirium and searched for the source of Bobby's voice. Eventually he stumbled across him sitting on the floor with a number of books scattered around him. Open on the floor in front of him was a tome on seismic geology, and in his lap, Bobby had a US atlas. Percy saw the map was open to the page on Wyoming. As he watched, Bobby ripped out the page, folded it up and threw it in his backpack. Percy would have protested, but they were already in so much trouble, what was a little petty vandalism?

"What's in Wyoming?" Percy asked as he shifted his gaze to the geology book. He saw it was opened to a section dealing with geysers. As he stared at the book, recognition began to dawn. "Faithful…"

"That's right! Let's go," Bobby commanded excitedly. They were about to leave, when Bobby turned back, picked up the geology book and threw it into the backpack as well. "You never know," he responded to Percy's raised eyebrows. "I think one of the lines in the prophecy is starting to make sense. Come on, we need to find Reyna and get out of here. We have a long way to go." They bolted out of the library and headed for the forum. She'd cleaned herself up, but the Reyna they met there looked much scarier than the one Percy had watched stalk away from him less than an hour before. The fists resting on her hips were white knuckled with agitation and her deep blue eyes flashed dangerously as her foot tapped at them impatiently. Percy would not want to meet this woman alone in a dark alley.

"I hope you two have a good reason for being so late," she snarled. "We were supposed to leave twenty minutes ago." Bobby gave Percy a glance that told him he'd already done enough damage for one morning. Percy couldn't agree more and let Bobby take the lead.

"Twenty minutes ago, we would have left with no idea where we were going, Rey," Bobby mollified. Her eyes danced with blue fire at the sound of the nickname, and Percy gave Bobby a not-so-subtle elbow to the ribs. _Ix-ne on the ickname-ne_, he tried to project. "Anyway," Bobby continued shakily, "now I know where we need to go. Think there's any possibility we can finagle some mode of transportation? Wyoming's pretty far away."

"No," a voice called from their left. All three turned quickly to see Sam approaching. She seemed to be alone, though Percy was keeping a weather eye out for Dakota the Cranky. "You must start on foot, your transportation will find you," she added cryptically.

"Well, that settles it. Let's go." Reyna turned on her heel and began to walk toward the path that would lead them toward the pedestrian exit. Percy didn't know where it would deposit them once outside the barriers of the Roman base, but he hoped it wasn't in the middle of the traffic laden tunnel they entered from yesterday. He also knew that once they left, he and Reyna would not be returning.

"Reyna," Sam beckoned. Reyna turned back slowly, and Percy could see her struggling to maintain her stern demeanor. Sam started to say something more, but seeing Reyna close to her breaking point silenced her. Whatever it was she wanted to convey, all she said was "Farewell." Reyna nodded slowly before glancing briefly at Percy and Bobby. Then she turned and resumed her deliberate march away from her life.


	11. Chapter 11 Reyna

**A/N:This chapter is where the story takes a decidedly alternate path from anything resembling what could have occurred in a real Rick Riordan story. Inspiration for this giant plot jackalope came from a review from reader **_**Xireene **_**asking me ****to delve deeper into a couple of my characters. See, reviews are helpful peeps, so don't think that your comments go unnoticed!  
**

**Oh, for this chapter, regular type is present time, **_**italics**_** is flashback.**

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_Chapter 11_

_Reyna_

The world had disappeared. All that remained was the damp and the pain. For three days, she had walked in self-imposed silence, and every trace of brightness or goodness that was worth fighting for had faded until all that was left was grim determination and soggy socks. The rain had begun to fall around noon on their second day out, and at first she had welcomed it. The droplets pooling to form shivering rivulets down the secret spaces of her body had reminded her she was still alive. But as she became accustomed to the steady drizzle and sopping world around her, the origin of the rain seemed to shift to pour out from her shattered spirit. Reyna knew her companions were worried that she had fallen into melancholy, but that wasn't the problem. She wasn't depressed or angry; she no longer had the emotional capacity required for such feelings. She was just empty, except for the pain. The one thing she knew was real was the dull persistent ache that had overtaken her body. It permeated every moment of her life until she wondered if there were ever a time she hadn't hurt. How could she have overturned her life so completely in just two days? She'd replayed the events of those days in her mind _ad nauseum_ looking for some detail, no matter how minute, that had been beyond her control. But every time she looked for blame, the finger pointed straight at her. As she burrowed deeper into her soul, she was forced to admit her follies had begun much earlier than her confession to Jason. It was over a year ago…

_The room in the Senate building they'd given Reyna to recover from the ceremony was much more posh than anything she'd seen since before she'd been initiated. The sleigh bed she lay in was fashioned from dark cherry wood and the feather mattress was beyond soft. She remained under the satin sheets and quilted coverlet for several moments, taking in the rich potpourri permeating the room. Finally, she stirred, unwittingly aggravating the lingering soreness in her lower abdomen as she sat up. She remembered the events of the ceremony and quashed her involuntary moment of panic. It was over and done now and she had finally achieved her goal. She was an officer in the First Legion! Shame washed over her briefly as she reflected on the reason she had been promoted. Their first battle with the Titan army had been disastrous. They'd lost too many soldiers, too many friends. She wouldn't be here now if Jessica hadn't saved her from the Cyclops who'd cornered her, losing her own life in the process. She shook off the gloom and rose from the bed to dress and set about her new morning duties as Pilus Prior. _

_As she emerged out onto to the Senate commons, she was met by enthusiastic cheers from her new company. Her heart and pride swelled, but she knew she could not allow such undisciplined behavior, especially on her first day of command. She returned their exuberance with a stern glare, and though she used no magic, the company silenced and snapped to attention under her azure stare. She maintained her cold visage as she conducted her morning inspection. She was pleased to see her soldiers so well attended and found only one minor infraction. Bobby had dirtied his cape, probably attending to some animal problem or other. Despite their friendship and his silent objections, she assigned him extra devotions for the evening. The punishment would drive him nuts; everyone knew his inclinations towards the gods. There was no way she was going to appear soft or nepotistic. There were enough people who thought she was a poor choice for the position, why give them more ammunition?_

_After the inspection, she led the first company through their morning drills, mostly formations and weapons techniques. She drove them hard despite the pain it caused her to keep up. By the time she dismissed them for the mid-day meal, Reyna was the most winded member of the outfit. She didn't mind though, since it built trust and loyalty to see your commander push themselves harder than they drove you. It had certainly worked for Jason, no one worked harder then he, and everyone followed him religiously. She watched her soldiers disperse as she caught her breath. She'd almost succeeded when it was completely knocked out of her again with fright._

"_Damn it, Dakota!" she gasped, trying to keep the smile out of her voice. It was hard with her two best friends rolling around on the ground in gales of mirthful laughter. Dakota and Jason had crept up behind her while she wheezed, and Dakota had smacked her on the ass with the flat of his gladius._

"_Oh my gods, Rey, that was fantastic," Jason chortled, smiling broadly._

"_With ups like that, you could join the Warriors if this demigod gig doesn't work out," Dakota joked, causing further giggles from the two boys. Reyna tried to remain stern as she glared at her jovial friends, but her own chuckles burst through. Eventually, the hilarity wore down to goodnatured smiles._

"_We came by to congratulate you, but you were so intent, we couldn't resist the open shot," Jason explained. _

"_Yeah, well, watch your back," Reyna replied jokingly. "I'll return the favor when you least expect it."_

"_You wouldn't strike a superior officer!" Jason exclaimed in mock surprise._

"_You better believe she would," Dakota assured him with a smile. "She's a feisty one." Reyna's smile stiffened a bit at this comment. She wasn't quite sure what Dakota meant, but she shrugged it off a second later. She figured it was just that she was still emotionally raw from last night. Dakota must have seen her eyes darken, and moved on to change the subject. "How about some lunch? We have a surprise for you."_

"_I think I've had my fill of your surprises for the morning," Reyna replied warily._

"_Don't worry," Jason interjected. "We promise you'll like this one." His blue eyes were sincere, though Dakota's brown ones still twinkled mischievously. _

"_Alright," she capitulated. Their luncheon surprise was much more enjoyable as Jason had assured her. They'd had Hazel bake her favorite cake, red velvet, for dessert. Normally, dessert was reserved for dinners, but the whole First Legion and much of Dakota's second joined in the celebration of her new rank. The ceremony last night had been very private with only a select group of attendees, so it was nice to have a moment to celebrate her ascension with the people she cared about. As always whenever they were all gathered, Reyna found his face through the crowd. He was deep in conversation with Hazel about something. His blonde hair was slightly mussed from his morning training and there was a bit of grime on his cheeks, which set off his sapphire eyes. Sensing her gaze, Jason looked around, finding Reyna's own indigo stare. He smiled bemusedly and waved before returning to his conversation. Reyna flushed at the thought of being caught staring. She turned her face and found her eyes locked with Dakotas. His strong jaw was tense and he'd lost all of his earlier mirth. She thought she knew what that stare was about. Dakota had always been a slave to duty, and being a Praetor, he knew what the ceremony last night had been and what it was supposed to teach to a new officer. Reyna's obvious fascination with Jason showed Dakota that she had not truly learned her lesson. She wanted to talk to him about it, but she was left with that cold expression as the trumpet sounded signifying the end of the noon meal. _

_Reyna set about her afternoon duties but found herself constantly distracted. Not only had Dakota reminded her of last night's events, but he'd managed to sow doubt in her mind that she had failed. A question she'd been desperately suppressing surfaced in the wake of that doubt, but it would have to wait. Her final task of the afternoon was pegasus training. By that point she was so flustered, her flight orders nearly resulted in a mid-air collision. She called a halt to their activities, and Bobby looked almost murderous as he stalked off to groom the pegasi. She knew he was much more concerned about what might have happened to the horses than to his fellow soldiers. She shook her head in consternation as he disappeared into the stables. She was left standing alone in the paddock for several moments before she heard a soft step behind her. _

"_You don't seem your usual self today," Hazel commented with a slight smirk. Despite the slight mockery in her tone, Reyna was glad to see her. She needed a girlfriend to talk to._

"_Well, you of all people should understand," she replied. Hazel had been made Pilus Prior of the Third Legion over a year ago, though she'd been promoted to Praetor after the battle. She'd gone through the ceremony as well._

"_Oh yes, I know perfectly well. But something tells me that's not all that's on your mind." Hazel always seemed to be able read her perfectly. Reyna never tried keeping secrets from her, though she thought about it now. She bit her lip as she pondered how to proceed._

"_Zel, do you—do you know who it was? For you, I mean?" She instantly regretted the question. Hazel's face went rigid, her fists clenched at her sides. The ceremony had been extremely difficult for Hazel. Her depression had lasted for months and required counseling. The ceremony was secret, so no one really knew why she'd slipped into melancholy except for the officers who'd already undertaken the rite. Now that Reyna knew, she understood Hazel's reaction though she was of the opinion that Hazel had pretty much failed that final trial of leadership. She had always had a big heart, and it was hard for her to detach. Reyna was beginning to feel like she was following in Hazel's footsteps._

"_I don't," Hazel whispered as she struggled with her own grief again. She looked up and saw something in Reyna's expression that made her sigh. "I tried for weeks to find out," she continued. "I thought it would make things better if I knew. I told myself I understood the purpose of the ceremony and that I would pass the trial, but I just needed to know first. But I realized after a while that the seeking that knowledge was what really held me back. Once I gave up, it became easier to get out of bed every morning. Easier to eat, train, live. You can't do this to yourself, Rey. Don't make my mistake. Detach yourself from it, that's what the rite is for."_

"_I-I know, Zel. I know. I guess I just needed to ask someone once." Reyna turned her gaze to the western sky where the sun was beginning to sink into the sea. _It was just a ritual, it didn't mean anything_, she told herself desperately._

"_Well, you've asked, now put it behind you. You're an officer now! You've always wanted this!" Hazel attempted with exaggerated brightness. Reyna tried to smile, but it didn't feel genuine. "Look, none of us expect you to be perfect, only you do that. And the more you try, the worse it will be." _

"_I guess you're right," Reyna sighed. "But regardless of who it was, I'm pretty sure I failed. I still can't stop thinking about him, Zel." She wasn't sure what she expected from Hazel after that confession, but full on laughter wasn't it._

"_Gods, Rey," she guffawed. "Is that really what's got your panties in a twist? Please, if the ceremony was supposed to rid us of our hormones, they've failed miserably. If anything, it encourages them. Why the hell do you think I hang around the stables so much?" Reyna's wide-eyed expression stopped Hazel in her tracks as she blushed furiously. "Oh, wow! That didn't sound right at all! You know what I mean, Rey. Speaking of which, could you put in a good word for me with a certain curly haired boy in your company?"_

"_Zel, you know he's with Gwen." Hazel's expression dimmed for a moment, then took on a certain determination._

"_Well, technically he's not with anyone. No dating, remember? So he's fair game, as far as I'm concerned," she countered._

"_Fine," Reyna sighed, still despondent, "I'll see what I can do."_

"_As for you, relax; you didn't fail. Lust isn't bad, attachment is. It's dangerous in our lives, especially for the leaders. You get attached to your company and you can't focus on your job when they're in jeopardy." She didn't continue, but they both knew she was thinking of Jessica. She and Reyna had been good friends, and she'd been killed because she couldn't let go. "Now, let's go get cleaned up for dinner. I made another one of your favorites for tonight, lemon bars!"_

_Dinner passed in a daze for Reyna. The Council had formally announced her and the two other new officers to the Legions, which was accompanied by a toast. The wine, which they were only offered on special occasions, flowed freely after that. Being inexperienced with alcohol, Reyna probably had more than was good for her, but it certainly helped her mood. She spent a good portion of the meal starring up at Jason. He met her eyes a few times, but gave no indication that he noticed or cared. _Stupid boy._ At one point while she was feeling pretty mellow, she noticed Dakota again giving her the evil eye. She mimicked his expression and pointed her tongue at him. He scowled and turned away. _Who the fuck is he to judge?

_When dinner ended, tipsy as she was, she still noticed Bobby attempting to sneak away from the mess area toward the barracks. She circled around the pavilion—a bit unsteadily—to cut him off at the portico. _

"_And just where do you think you're goin', Buster?" she slurred. "I believe you have a punishment to perform." At least that's what she thought she said. He got the gist of it anyway._

"_Damn it, Rey, you know how I feel about this shit," he protested._

"_Yeah, I do. That's why it's called 'a punishment'," she rebutted. At that moment, the trumpet sounded announcing devotions. "Perfect timing! March, Bucko!" Tipsy as she was, Reyna had the fortitude to perform extra offerings that evening. She offered green fire to her mother Trivia as usual, white to lady Minerva for the wisdom to guide her company, and gold to lord Jupiter for the strength to lead. After her offerings she knelt and prayed to lady Vesta in thanks for the gift of her home here and her friends. When she finished and opened her eyes to stand, she found the temple empty and it was full dark outside. She must have drifted off to sleep, how embarrassing. She rose gingerly, still somewhat foggy from her earlier consumption. As she walked towards the exit, she noticed she wasn't alone, as she'd thought. There was another person kneeling along the far wall in front of the altar of Vulcan. She was about to leave them be in peace, but as she reached the doorway, he spoke._

"_Reyna," Dakota's voice drifted softly across the temple, "can we talk?" She stopped short at the doorway, tense as she awaited the drubbing she was about to receive. Dakota had been one of her best friends for years now, but he was not exactly what one would describe as a diplomatic person. Being a son of Vulcan, he had a greater affinity for machines and weapons than he did for people or their feelings. Reyna and Jason had always been able to see through his gruff social awkwardness, but she braced herself now for the full brunt of it._

"_Sure," she responded tentatively as she turned to face him. He was standing now, and across the temple, dark as it was, his face was cloaked in shadow. "What about?" She tried to keep the waiver from her voice, but didn't think she was too successful. Dakota took a few steps forward until his face was illuminated by a stray moonbeam. Reyna blanched as she tried to understand what she was seeing. She'd expected anger or disdain, something harsh. What she saw took her breath away and left her stock still in shock. Dakota was crying. Brusque, terse, stoic Dakota, the rock of the Second Legion, the boy with no fear was standing in front of her, weeping like a child. As she recovered from her initial shock, a dozen different scenarios of what might make this stony man break flashed through her mind, each more preposterous than the last. Reyna had never seen him so much as frown at what would make others scream for their mothers. _

"_K-Kota, what's wrong?" she queried more shrilly than she planned. "Is it your mom? Is she ok?" She regretted the question instantly. Technically, contact with one's mortal family was forbidden, and Dakota lived for technicalities. She'd only ever heard him talk about his mother and sister once, and that had been at Lupa's command. From that conversation, she knew that he, like everyone else, kept abreast of his family's lives, but he felt shameful at his broach of army regulations. In his current state, mention of one of his perceived indiscretions probably wasn't the wisest choice. Normally this question would have generated a dangerous scowl or more likely a serious row, but he just shook his head and looked to the floor._

"_No—no, it's me," he replied after several seconds. Reyna waited to see if he would continue, but it became obvious he was reluctant to speak. She couldn't believe this was the same Dakota she'd known for most of her life. It was like he'd been possessed. _

"_Dakota, what are you talking about? What have you done? This isn't like you at all," Reyna urged, hoping to press him into speech. When he looked up again, he seemed to have gained some measure of control. He didn't speak right away; instead he began walking forward, closing the distance between them. He stopped a few paces away from her, and she could finally see his features clearly. The set of his body, all of his facial features spoke of a man in the depths of personal crisis. But in Dakota's eyes lived a desperate sense of hope. He looked hungry, and he seemed to think Reyna could provide whatever it was he needed. A terrible sense of dread began rising up in her gut as she waited for what seemed like hours for him to speak._

"_It's not what I _have_ done, it's what I haven't," he whispered into the pregnant silence. "Reyna, we've known each other for a long time. You and Jason have been like family to me, and I wouldn't trade even a second of it. You know I don't really get along with people. People just don't make sense, except for Jason…a-and you. I thought… Well, I thought it was enough. But it's different now, everything's different now." Reyna watched as his eyes searched her face for some sort of understanding, but she was completely lost. What did he mean, 'it wasn't enough?' A small glimmer of light shone in her consciousness as she realized what he was saying. She pushed it away, hoping it was just her imagination._

"_What do you mean, 'everything's different now'? Kota, you're not making any sense." She watched the hopeful glimmer in his eyes begin to dim._

"_You really don't see?" he pleaded. "I can't live with what happened last night, Rey. It's not right. I—"_

"_Dakota, there's nothing to talk about," she cut him off. "You know as well as I that last night didn't mean anything. It was just a ritual. You went through it yourself over two years ago! I don't know who it was and I don't care. Nothing has to change between the three of us, Kota._

"_No, Reyna, everything changes," he retorted, his voice filled with hurt. "Reyna, I-I love you. I always have. Can't you under—"_

"_No…No, Dakota, you can't do this to me." She shook her head desperately looking at the floor. Her own tears began to well as she felt her world tearing apart. There was no way she could return his feelings. She'd never looked at him as more than a friend. Jason had always had her heart, and now out of the blue, Dakota was forcing her to make a choice that only had one possible outcome. _Damn him!_ she thought._

"_I'm sorry, Rey, I thought I could do my duty and let last night go. But I'm not strong enough. I've failed. Two years since my own rite, and I'm just now realizing I failed. My whole life's been a lie since then." The anguish in his voice almost broke Reyna's heart, but she couldn't afford his failure. _

"_Don't call me that," she whispered in despair. "Please, don't. You don't get to call me that anymore!" She buried her face in her hands, her tears flowing freely now. "How could you do this to us? HOW COULD YOU?" she shouted. She looked up into his stricken face, all hope erased from his eyes. She'd demanded an answer, but she couldn't bear to hear it. Before he could gather the courage to speak, her own left her, and she spun on her heel to run._

"_Reyna!" Dakota called from behind her as she opened the door to escape. His voice had completely changed, forcing her to stop, though every ounce of her begged for flight. He no longer sounded desperate or weak; his voice was cold, calculating. She knew, just in the way he said her name, she'd lost one of her best friends for good. She didn't turn back to face him, she wouldn't give that voice the satisfaction, but neither could she force her traitorous feet to flee. She heard him step slowly and deliberately closer until his face was right next to her ear. Then as he moved to exit past her out the temple doorway, he whispered three words she would remember with horror for the rest of her life. "It was me."_

She dropped to her knees in the middle of the wet pine forest. The soggy bed of needles braced her fall, but soaked the knees of her jeans. Reyna didn't care; the memory of her shame had brought the world and all its ills crashing back into reality. She wept for the first time since they'd left the base, yet her tears brought no sense of healing like all the psychology books say they should. She felt arms surround her shoulders trying to offer comfort, but the thought of someone touching her, especially a boy, only made her feel like wretching. She pulled free of the offending embrace violently, falling fully prone in the process. She didn't even try to push herself up, what was the point? Thankfully, neither of her companions attempted assistance. She didn't know how long she lay like that, unable to stop crying.

She was brought back to reality, by Bobby's gasp of horror and what sounded like him tackling and dragging Percy away. It was just as well, she figured. They would do better to simply leave her to rot. Then she heard the soft sound of something other than rain hitting the needle-lined forest floor. Reyna lifted her head to the sound of cloven hooves, expecting to see a deer or maybe even a faun, though why Bobby would have run away from either was beyond her. The irony of the animal she did see was so deep, she began to laugh hysterically. It didn't take long for her laughter to return to sobs of despair.

"WHY ARE YOU MOCKING ME?" she screamed at the animal, but the unicorn before her merely stood and stared.


	12. Chapter 12 Bobby

**A/N: ****This chapter starts almost simultaneously with where the last one _started_, so there's a little backtrack, for those who might get confused.**  


**Also, I've gotten some comments on the fact that I have Percy taking wounds and the like from time to time. Since it comes up again in this chapter, I thought I'd address it. No, I haven't forgotten about his invulnerability. I am using this story to play on an idea I had while reading TLH. I'm not going to tell you any more, because I don't want to ruin anything. I needed something to manipulate about Percy's character or it just wouldn't be any fun, for you **_**or**_** me. /soapbox**

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_Chapter 12_

_Bobby_

_I'm gonna kill her_, Bobby vowed silently. _Bitch is gonna frickin' burn._ _'You must start out on foot.' I'll give you a foot to start out on. _Three f-in' days, they'd been wandering in the woods and rain for three days without so much as a fart on the wind to indicate some mode of transportation that would supposedly 'find them.' So Bobby made his promises that when he returned to LARD base camp, Sam was going to die…painfully. When he returned alone. He amended his vow to include Dakota in his murder plans. He shook his head in wonder at how much had changed.

A year ago, Dakota, Reyna and Jason had been virtually inseparable, and Bobby would never have thought him capable of what he'd done to Reyna. Dakota was fiercely loyal—one of his few traits Bobby actually admired—and he'd also always been somewhat stoic and reserved. Bobby never thought he would be the one to crack under the pressure of war, but he'd changed so much as a result, it was the only conclusion Bobby could come to. After the first battle he was never quite the same, and he and Reyna hadn't so much drifted apart as run away screaming from each other. Dakota and Jason had still maintained their friendship from what Bobby could tell, but he wondered if that had just been posturing for the sake of troop morale. Whatever had happened between Dakota and Reyna though, they couldn't seem to stand the sight of each other anymore. No one had any delusions they were still on friendly ground. Bobby had his suspicions, but he'd never felt comfortable enough to ask Reyna about it. Whatever it was, Dakota still carried enough resentment to have Reyna put out of his life completely.

Percy's exile he could understand. It was pure power politics, but Reyna was personal and even now completely out of character for mister slave-to-duty Dakota. There was no professional or political reason to oust Reyna either from power or the army as a whole. As a warrior, she was immensely powerful. She was the strongest magic user the army had seen in generations, and her banishment greatly weakened their already diminished forces. Unfortunately, as a leader she was weak. Dakota's ambitions couldn't have wished for a better gift than to have Reyna in charge of the First Legion. Reyna was a great friend and a strong fighter, but Bobby held no fantasies that she was the answer to Jason's desertion. With her gone, Gwen would ascend to Praetor. She would be much less tolerant of Dakota's power games, and Bobby secretly hoped she'd take an argument too far and skewer the prick. That left only a personal grudge as Dakota's motivation, and judging from Reyna's deteriorating mental state over the past three days, he didn't think Dakota was solely at fault for whatever it was that drove them apart. Reyna had always been harder on herself than others.

He looked ahead to where she was trudging through the pine-needle flotsam on the forest floor. As was becoming her natural state, she was silently lost within her own mind. She'd barely spoken since they'd left. He and Percy had tried spectacularly unsuccessfully to engage her in conversation every night as they made camp. She only responded occasionally and it was usually just with a grunt. Percy and he had become rather proficient at the silent worried glance during those one sided discourses. Suddenly, she stopped in front of him, a simple action which surprised Bobby. Though she'd been slipping deeper and deeper into herself, she'd still managed to set a grueling pace, almost never resting. She stood for a tense moment before her hands came up to her face as she dropped to her knees on the soggy ground weeping uncontrollably. He looked over at Percy and saw relief in his eyes. Reyna hadn't cried once since the exile, and maybe now she'd be able to start the coping process. Bobby knew Percy was agonizing nearly as much as Reyna. To him, it seemed like he was the cause of everything that had happened. As annoyingly sappy as the new kid was, Bobby knew he was just a useful pawn. Everything boiled down to Reyna, Dakota and Jason.

Percy began to move toward Reyna, but Bobby reached out to pull him back. He didn't want them getting too close. The prophecy scared him still, and they still didn't understand most of it. Actually, he thought he was close to deciphering at least some of it, and that scared him even more. Bobby gave Percy a warning glance as he moved forward to kneel down next Reyna. She was sobbing heartily and Bobby figured she had a lot to cry about. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders comfortingly, but she jerked violently and threw herself away from his touch. He stared at her in amazement for a moment before something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to find a creature approaching he couldn't believe he was actually seeing; they were supposed to be extinct. His natural affinity for all things animal made him stare in wonder for a moment at the shear perfectness of the beast that was deliberately stalking towards them. Its figure was generally similar to a horse with a gleaming white coat, but Bobby could distinguish cloven hooves and a lion's tail which were definitely un-horse-like. However, these features faded into the shadow cast by the animal's most prominent appendage. Erupting from the center of its forehead was a single spiraled and shining horn roughly two feet in length. Bobby marveled at the magnificent creature approaching them and he unwittingly gave thanks to whatever god had allowed him to see a unicorn before he died. That thought brought him back to his senses. He began to recall all of the lore he'd learned on unicorns, and two words kept associating themselves, death and boys.

He didn't exactly forget about Reyna lying prone and weeping on the ground in front of him as jumped to his feet to flee. Somewhere in the back of his mind, there was a rational thought that said she stood a much better chance of exiting this encounter alive than either he or Percy. As such he turned to start running he saw Percy, entranced by the creature, walking forward towards it in wonder. Bobby sighed and changed his course to intercept Percy's. Percy didn't see him coming as enthralled as he was by the unicorn, and when Bobby lowered his shoulder in a body-check, he hit the ground with a hollow grunt as all the air was knocked from his lungs. Bobby had managed to stay on his feet and reached down to pull a now very aware Percy to his feet.

"We've got to get away from here," Bobby explained in answer to Percy's perplexed grimace. "Boys and unicorns don't mix, unless you want to become a hero-kebab." Percy still looked confused, but stole a quick glance at the spiral horn.

"Alright—Wait! What about Reyna?" Percy exclaimed. "We can't just leave her there like this!"

"Don't worry, she should be fine," Bobby urged, pulling Percy along behind him as he made his way through the trees. "Unicorns are supposed to like girls." He couldn't keep the uncertainty out of his voice, but he still knew she had a better chance than they did. He pressed onward. Suddenly Reyna's voice split the quiet forest air.

"WHY ARE YOU MOCKING ME?" she screamed. Bobby turned to see her back on her knees, her arms wide and her chest thrown forward in offering. "Just do it already! Get it over with! Kill me!"

"What was that you were saying about her being fine?" Percy mocked as he pulled free, intent on going back for Reyna.

"Shit…Percy, no!"

"It's a horse, isn't it? I'm just going to try to reason with it," Percy called over his shoulder as ran back towards the creature now looming over Reyna menacingly.

"No! It's not a horse!" Bobby called, but Percy was only a few paces away from Reyna now. "Damn it, asshole! No one ever listens to me." The unicorn had lowered its head and was reared back ready to strike when Percy managed to grab Reyna around the waist and fling her out of the path of her descending death. The horn caught Percy's shoulder instead, but rather than running him through completely, the unicorn met some resistance and Percy was flung backward several feet. He landed with a grunt of pain, and Bobby could see blood begin to soak his shirt where the horn should have gored him completely. Rather than charge after Percy to finish the job, the unicorn resolutely turned back towards where Reyna now sprawled. She'd raised herself to her hands, but she was no longer defiant in the face of death. Her head hung low on her shoulders, wet hair hanging limply around her face. The beast closed the distance between them and slowly prepared to strike again.

"Fuck! I know I'm going to regret this," Bobby admonished himself. He broke into a run managed to reach the space between Reyna and the murderous unicorn just as the creature was ready to attack. "Stop! Please," he pleaded. Bobby knew it was suicide. He was even more of a target than Reyna to this animal. She was at least female. Bobby closed his eyes waiting for death but none came. After several seconds, he opened his eyes and nearly fainted. There was no way this could be happening. Far from looking murderous, the unicorn had sunk down on its forelegs and bowed its head in genuflection. He gaped at the beast that was now prostrate before him until he heard a voice speaking clearly into his blank, uncomprehending mind.

_As you wish, Lord._ He looked around frantically looking for the source of the disembodied female voice but saw no one other than the still weeping Reyna, unconscious and bleeding Percy, and the unicorn. He sniffed the air tentatively trying to detect the scent of grapes. Bacchus might have been playing a prank on him again. He liked to play games with Bobby's sanity from time to time, but there was no sign that a god had been present. Slowly he looked back to the kneeling unicorn, his eyebrows leveled over skeptical eyes.

"Um, was that you?"

_Yes, Lord._ He knew hanging out with Percy was a bad influence. Four days and his Dr. Dolittle hallucinations were already rubbing off. Bobby shook his head violently; clearly he was going crazy, even without Bacchus' intervention. Maybe he was actually dead and just didn't know it yet. He reached down to unsheathe one of his knives and poked himself if the palm. _Fuck, that hurt!_ Ok so he wasn't dead and the unicorn didn't seem to be ready to rectify that problem. Might as well go with the crazies.

"How can I hear you speak?" Bobby asked playing along with his hallucination. "I've never heard that unicorns were telepathic."

_Because of whom you are, Lord, _the unicorn responded, rising to her feet again and looking him in the eyes. _You are the first in millennia. We've been waiting generations for you._ Though the voice was no more than thought, the unicorn was clearly as shocked as Bobby. She quivered with excitement. He almost forgot his conviction that none of this could be real. No one had ever been able to determine who he was, and yet this creature seemed to know him. His eagerness was palpable.

"How do you know me?" Bobby pressed. "Why do you call me Lord? What do you mean you've been waiting for me?" Questions bubbled up in his brain faster than he could voice them. The beast cocked her head, and Bobby could tell she was laughing at him. His stream of inquiries fell silent as he watched the horse giggle at him. Yep, Percy was driving him mad.

_Your pardon, Lord, but I am not a horse._ She sounded somewhat offended. _Your sea spawn friend made the same mistake. It should have paid with its life, but its blood is different. Plus it is a boy…no offence, Lord._

"Uh…none taken," Bobby assured her nervously. Mention of Percy drew Bobby's attention his wounded companion. He ran over to where Percy lay unconscious to inspect his wound. He paused and turned back to the unicorn, "You won't hurt her?" If possible the animal looked shocked at this request.

_I did not come to harm her. I came to offer absolution; she requested death. But I will honor your command, Lord. _

"Wait, you've been waiting generations for me, but you came here for her? As in you didn't know I was here?"

_No, Lord. You've been shadowed from us. _Bobby wanted to ask more about that, but decided he needed see to Percy first. As he knelt beside him, Bobby saw he was still bleeding slowly. But the flow was minimal to what it should have been. The force with which Percy had hit the ground made Bobby wary of moving him. He was still unconscious and his spine may have been compromised. Taking one of his knives, Bobby carefully cut away Percy's shirt from the wound. He was glad he was the one doing this. If it had been Reyna, she would have chucked all over him, and puke isn't really a good antiseptic. The gash at first appeared significant, but once cleaned with water from his canteen, Bobby found it was only about half an inch deep. The flesh underneath, as far as he could see was untouched. As he was cleaning the wound, Bobby removed a shard of what he thought was chipped bone. As he pulled it out though, it seemed to shine with its own light. There certainly wasn't any sunlight making it gleam; they hadn't seen the sun in two days. He marveled at what the shard must have been. Setting it aside for the moment, he finished cleaning the wound with a splash of nectar. It started to close almost immediately, and Percy moaned indicating that the healing drink was passing through his blood to heal the concussion he'd also received. When he woke up, Bobby would make him eat a little ambrosia and he should be back to full strength.

Picking up the shard from Percy's wound, Bobby stood and walked back to where the unicorn stood protectively over Reyna. Her deep sobs had quieted and she'd managed to sit up. Bobby was about to present the shard of horn to the unicorn, but as he approached, Reyna looked up at him with dead eyes and a wry smile.

"Pretty fuckin' ironic, isn't it?" Her voice showed no trace of the smile she wore.

"Ironic how?" Bobby pondered as he placed the horn shard in his pocket. He'd heard her shout something about being mocked, but he had no idea what she meant.

_She is impure, Lord_, the unicorn replied for her. Not that she made any more sense than Reyna.

"Impure? What do you mean?" He turned back to Reyna, "What does she mean?" Reyna looked shocked for a moment as she shifted her gaze between him and the unicorn. Then she simply began to laugh. The sound held no mirth and was the desperate act of one with no recourse _but_ to laugh.

"Perfect, Percy talks to horses, you talk to unicorns, I wonder what animal I get to talk to. Probably jackalopes," she deprecated. The venom in her voice startled him, not only because it was unusual for her, but because it also sounded familiar. She sounded like Dakota. Only now did Bobby realize she and Dakota had not fallen apart because they'd reached a crossroads and chosen different directions. When they'd come to that waypoint, Dakota had chosen his path, Reyna hadn't. She was stuck. Here was the only irony Bobby saw: a daughter of the goddess of crossroads unable to choose a direction. Well, now she was being forced to move, and Bobby would be damned if he was going to let her follow Dakota down his road of dick-i-tude.

"Reyna, don't do this to yourself," he implored. "Let me help you. What does she mean 'you are impure'?"

"Gee, Bobby let's think," she scoffed. "The eternal symbol of purity and virginity stands right next to you and tells you I'm impure." She crossed her arms and turned her face away as understanding dawned in Bobby's eyes.

"You're not a virgin." It wasn't a question, and Bobby saw Reyna wince as he laid her shame bare, but her reply was scathing.

"Ding, ding, ding! Corny, tell him what he's won!"

_No._

"She wasn't being serious," Bobby explained to the unicorn, who had probably never heard of sarcasm.

_No, Lord, you misunderstand. Her lost virginity makes her impure, but her impurity is not her promiscuity._

"Promiscuity?" Bobby choked.

"Perfect," Reyna snorted.

_Poor choice of words, Lord,_ the unicorn mollified,_ but the point is the same._ Bobby was getting a major headache.

"Look, either it is or it isn't." Why couldn't anyone make sense?

_Virginity is no more pure a state than not being virgin is impure, Lord._

"But, everyone always says virginity is the same as purity." Bobby was thoroughly confused.

"Um, hello? I'm right frickin' here!" Reyna demanded to deaf ears.

_No, they are two states of being. Often purity coexists with virginity, but just because one is chaste, does not make one pure. Likewise, being unchaste is not indicative of taint. Lost virginity is the cause, impurity is only a symptom. Virginity cannot be restored, but impurity can be remedied. Were that not the case, you would never have been born, Lord._ The unicorn's last statement triggered a volcano of questions about his origins and it took all of his will to push them aside. Time enough later for his questions. Reyna's sanity was more important. Problem was, he still didn't understand.

"So you're sayin—"

"Reyna," a soft voice called from several yards away. All three of them started as Percy spoke up for the first time. Bobby didn't know when he'd awoken or what he had heard. Could he understand the unicorn?

"Reyna," he called again. He was staring at her with so much sympathy in his eyes, Bobby had to turn away. Instead he looked at Reyna as she brought her gaze to meet his. Bobby could tell she was losing herself in that stare, and as wary as he was about her feelings for Percy, he figured there were darker places to lose her heart.

"What?" she whispered. Her eyes filled with pain as she anticipated his next question.

"Who?"

"Percy—" Bobby interjected angrily. How could he be so insensitive? It was none of their business.

_No, Lord. He understands the roots of her taint. He will cure it, _she exclaimed joyfully into his mind. Bobby continued to watch Reyna as she searched for words. Her face had registered the expected shock at Percy's brash question, but as she looked at Percy, her expression gradually changed. She seemed to have found something in him she could trust implicitly. Bobby had never felt like more of a third wheel. Finally, Reyna seemed to come to a decision. He could tell it still wasn't easy, and he was angry with himself for his own heightened sense of anticipation for her answer.

"Please don't hate me," she whispered, eyes wide searching for assurance. Percy must have given her some silent sign that no one would lose respect for her because she closed her eyes with a shuddering breath before uttering "Dakota."

"What!" Bobby shouted in disbelief.

"It wasn't my choice!" She pleaded desperately, wanting Bobby to understand. He didn't want to think about the possibilities of what that statement meant. He was beyond angry. Before he knew it his knives were in his hands, his knuckles white with his grip. He didn't have anything to attack, but anger like this shouldn't be faced without a weapon.

"You mean he…? Oh my gods, Reyna! I'm gonna kill him. I—"

"No, Bobby, it's not like that either," she insisted. "There's a secret ceremony all new officers undergo the night before they're formally introduced. I know you've heard of it, the rumors have been around forever, but the details are closely guarded. Well, now you know what it involves, and why it's secret. The whole ritual is performed under a magic veil so you're not supposed to know who you're having sex with other than it's a senior officer. There were three initiates the night I was promoted. I don't know how, but Dakota found out that I was…his." Her face turned a sickly green at these words, and she turned and wretched. Bobby took a step forward to help her, but Percy was already there. He knelt beside her and pulled her hair back from her face. Bobby noticed he was careful not to touch her otherwise. He figured that was a wise choice under the circumstances. Bobby was still struggling with his anger, though it had shifted its focus.

"What is the fucking _point_ of this 'ceremony'?" he spat. Reyna continued divesting her stomach for a few moments before she could compose herself to answer.

"Who cares? It never works anyway. Supposedly it's some BS about detaching yourself from intimacy so you don't form strong attachments to your subordinates. It's all a load of crap."

"Wait, every officer goes through this?"

"Yes," she replied simply.

"Even Serah?" Bobby choked, disbelieving as she nodded mutely. "She's only 12!"

"Why do you think most of the officers objected to her promotion?" Reyna pleaded for understanding. "She was too popular in her Legion though, and she hated us for not supporting her. She understands why now, poor girl. She was so innocent I don't think she even knew what sex was." Bobby had a pretty strong stomach, but he found himself nauseous at the thought of tiny Serah in that situation. His face must have been turning green because Reyna gave him a sympathetic look. "She actually took it well. She believes in logic religiously as a daughter of Minerva. It helped her cope. She was much better off than Hazel." Bobby sank to his knees as he remembered the months after Hazel had been promoted to Pilus Prior in her legion. She'd sunk into a deep depression no one could explain. Well, they could damn well explain it now. Bobby decided he _was_ going to go back and wring some answers out of the Council, at knifepoint if necessary.

"Thanks for never promoting me," was all he could manage in response. There's no way he would have gone along with such a cockamamie scheme. Reyna smiled sardonically.

"I almost suggested it to Gwen before we left, but I knew you'd probably murder someone when you found out," she read his thoughts. He just couldn't believe he was hearing this. It was so far beyond the pale…

"There were a lot of promotions during the war," Bobby voiced a new horror. "Were you ever 'called into service' again?"

"No, and I'm not sure why," she replied. She might have said more, but stopped herself. Bobby understood, he neither needed nor wanted to know who of his officer friends had been forced to repeatedly participate.

_You are falling into the same trap, Lord. She needs you to pull her out, not join her, _the unicorn admonished. He looked at her in bewilderment. What trap was he falling into?

"How would having sex with someone you don't know teach you anything about intimacy?" Percy asked calmly. He'd been silent for a while, and his soft voice was filled with confusion.

"It's the most intimate act performed with someone you have to just walk away from," Reyna explained like he was again asking a silly question. He opened his mouth to speak again, but a realization had struck Bobby.

"Dakota couldn't walk away! He found out it was you a-and you rejected him." It made so much sense. Everything fit together, Reyna and Dakota's split friendship, his undying grudge against her, even his personality change stemmed from this stupid ritual. She nodded silently, her eyes on the ground.

"I still don't get how forced ritualistic sex with a stranger is intimate," Percy interposed shaking his head. "Doesn't intimacy come from mutual sharing and trust? How is there any trust in an act like that? Just sitting here sharing your pain seems far more intimate than that ritual. Regardless, the unicorn is right, the fact that you're not a virgin isn't why she's here. Dakota is why she's here."

_He understands, Lord. The girl's taint isn't her sexual encounter, it's the attachment she's added to it. She carries the weight of her friend's path towards darkness when it is not her burden to bear. _Percy nodded, obviously understanding what the unicorn was saying, and finally Bobby understood.

"Rey, Dakota's road was not your choice," Bobby explained. "He attached his closeness with you to one night of fucked up ritualistic shenanigans rather than to the years of close friendship you shared. That's his own damned fault, not yours. He knew how you felt about Jason, everyone did. He made the choice to give you an ultimatum, and he should have known he wasn't going to win. None of this is your fault. You need to let it go." She began to cry again, and this time Percy did reach out to her. She hesitated at first, then fell forward into his arms weeping openly. Her tears were no fewer than before, but Bobby knew she was beginning to heal.

_Lord, do you have the shard you removed from the sea child's wound?_

"Yes," he replied, reaching into his pocket to produce the gleaming object. He noticed it was tinged a rosy pink whereas the unicorn's horn was pearly white. A thought occurred to him. "What's your name?"

_I am called Alabaster. You may call me Ali, if you wish._

"Will the blood wash off?" Bobby wondered as he considered the small chip of horn. He'd heard various rumors about the powers of unicorn horns, mostly having to do with purifying poisoned objects. He couldn't recall any legends about blood, but unicorns had supposedly gone extinct ages ago so some lore was likely lost.

_Not this blood,_ Ali told him. _The sea child's blood is…special. It carries the hopes and dreams of all men._ Bobby stared disbelieving first at the horn chip and then at Percy.

"Him?" he exclaimed incredulously. "Giggles McGee over there carries the hopes of the world? You can't be serious." Ali looked at Percy who was still cradling Reyna's dejected form. Bobby didn't know how it was possible, but the unicorn managed her own skeptical look.

_Perhaps I was too grandiose in my word choice, _she rejoined. _It's more that his blood bears the mark of those dreams. More like a shadow, but it gives him powerful protection._ _Yet, it is weakening._ Bobby looked askance at the unicorn.

"You seem to have problem with word selection," he remarked.

_I don't spend much time conversing with humans, Lord._

"Yeah, me neither," he agreed. "Oh, and you can stop with the whole 'Lord' thing. It's creeping me out."

_As you wish, Master._ Bobby sighed, this was going to get awkward. _Give the shard to the girl._ Bobby looked again at the small object in his hand that shouldn't have existed. He had to admit he was a bit reluctant to give it up.

"Will it help her heal?"

_In a way. It doesn't hold any special powers, those legends are mostly false. However, it will serve as a reminder that purity still exists where blood has been spilt._

"Nice metaphor."

_Thank you, Master. I thought so myself._ Bobby walked forward smiling ruefully. It was good to know animals had a sense of humor. He knelt down next to Percy and Reyna. After a moment, they both looked up at what he offered. He proffered it to Reyna silently. Her curiosity gave way to wonder as she understood what she was holding. Bobby thought Ali must have been lying because the change the stole over Reyna's features was too dramatic to not have been magical.

"What does it do?" she queried still awed by the object.

"Apparently it cheers you up," Percy responded with a smile. Bobby had to agree.

"Supposedly it has no special powers, but will—how did she put it?—serve as a reminder that purity still exists where blood has spilled, or something like that," Bobby added as she scowled at him. "Hey! The unicorn's words not mine." Reyna softened a little and looked more closely at the horn piece.

"It's stained!" she gasped as she looked between the original horn and the part she held. She looked at Percy and smiled. "You must have some pretty powerful blood. I thought unicorn horns were supposed to reject blemishes."

"About that, did you hear what Ali said?" Bobby asked.

"Sort of," Percy answered. "She's not really a horse, so it's hard for me to understand her clearly. She's got a pretty thick accent."

_He's the one with the accent. I speak just perfectly, Master. _Bobby chose to ignore that.

"She said your blood has some mark of men's hopes and dreams. Do you understand what she meant?"

"Nope."

"Well whatever it means, she thinks it's what gives you your strange protection," Bobby informed. "She also thinks it's weakening." Percy's eyes lost some luster at this statement, and for some reason, he turned and gave Reyna a haunted, searching stare.

"Her name is Ali?" Reyna broke the tension nervously, looking at the unicorn.

"Alabaster, yes."

"She's beautiful," Reyna admired.

_You may keep this one, Master._

"Can you ask her if there's someplace close we can get out of the rain?" Percy asked, recovered from his momentary introspection

_There—is—a—cave—just—over—the—hill—sea—child, _she spoke slowly as if that would help Percy understand her better. He returned a level stare as the unicorn snorted her version of laughter. Bobby decided he liked this animal. It was going to be a fun trip.


	13. Chapter 13 Bobby

_Chapter 13_

_Bobby_

He must have died. He must have died and gone to Elysium; there was no other explanation. _Yeah, right, like the gods would let _me_ into Elysium_, Bobby thought. But a whole _herd_ of unicorns? Ok, so 'herd' was a bit of a stretch. Most people wouldn't call six animals a herd, a family maybe, or—what had Ali called them?—a charm. Regardless, the cave she lead them to turned out to be a den of sorts for this charm of unicorns, another piece of evidence that these creatures were very different from horses. No horse would make their home in a cave, especially a cave like this. The mouth was so narrow and secluded, when they'd arrived, it seemed like Ali disappeared directly into the solid rock face. Closer inspection revealed a brush covered entrance so small it was difficult for even Reyna to squeeze through, much less a large animal like Ali. Bobby had forgotten she could basically read his thoughts, and after some comment about stupid boys and high-calorie California grasses, she'd refused to talk to him again. He would have felt slighted at that, but emerging into the heart of the den to discover five more of the magnificent creatures, his worry slipped easily to the back of his mind.

He spared a brief moment to marvel at the lighting in the cave as well. A vein of some crystalline mineral, probably quartz, split the left side of the ceiling, reaching all the way to the surface of the hill. It reflected and magnified the daylight to cast brilliant bursts of shimmering colors across the floor. It was so bright even on this cloud covered day that Bobby figured a sunny day would blind him. Unicorns certainly seemed to have a flair for dramatic interior design. His attention was stunningly diverted from his naturalistic fascination as he was tackled to the ground by an enthusiastic young unicorn.

_Is it really you, Lord?_ she bubbled excitedly. The young animal's exuberance erased any indignation he might have felt at being so unceremoniously deposited on his ass. The voracity with which it nuzzled his face made Bobby exceedingly happy that a unicorn's horn grew very gradually. This little one's was only a few inches long and still rather rounded at the nub. Of course that didn't stop it from getting jammed in his eye. It was during Bobby's stream of expletives as he rubbed his offended ocular cavity that one of the males extricated the young creature. As she was dragged to the opposite end of the cave, Bobby pondered what to proper term for a young unicorn was. They all had lion tails, but 'cub' didn't seem right. The two males he could see both had goatish beards and along with the cloven hooves he guessed they might call their young 'kids'. But they also seemed to be at least slightly related to horses considering Percy had at least a passing understanding of their language, so maybe colts and fillies.

_Our children are merely that, Lord, boys and girls,_ the other male explained, reading Bobby's thoughts. He was definitely going to have to remedy that issue. _Unicorns lived closely among humans when the world was young and humans were still innocent, if you can believe that. The humans adopted many of our ways, but that was before Prometheus decided they needed fire. Immortals are so foolish,_ he concluded with a sigh.

Bobby hadn't had time to notice before, but another of the myths about unicorns seemed to be incorrect. Rather than all being adorned with gleaming white coats, there were a range of colors, all of which shined with an inner light. Apart from Alabaster, in fact, the only other white unicorn was the young girl who'd laid him out. The other male, who was still reprimanding her in a far corner of the cave, was a deep shimmering silver. The two other females were golden and copper colored respectively. The eldest male who'd been speaking to him, though, shocked Bobby to his core. His coat was deep lustrous obsidian the color of a black sapphire. For some reason the idea of black unicorns seemed wrong.

_This is why we don't mingle with humans anymore, always attaching such great significance to the smallest things,_ the male responded to Bobby's thoughts indignantly. _And what, young Sir, is so wrong with the idea of my very fine hair? Hmm?_ Ok, he was really going to have to do something about the whole mind reading thing. Privacy was obviously a foreign concept to these guys.

"N-nothing! I think it's beautiful!" He glanced over to see Percy doubled over with a serious case of the giggles. What else was new? Apparently his understanding of unicorn language was stronger than he let on. Reyna just looked confused and weary. He again felt anger welling up at the torment she'd endured, was still enduring. She'd lived with it alone and hidden for so long, and Bobby was determined she would not sink back into her hole of denial and guilt, not alone, anyway. Loneliness he understood. Even surrounded by the entire army, many of whom he considered family, he'd been alone among many. He never fit, preferring to spend his days in the company of beasts rather than face the sympathetic looks from all of his comrades, his _claimed_ comrades. And they all believed they fucking 'understood.' Even the year and a half he'd spent not-so-secretly dating Gwen had been empty. Mostly because, he'd admitted long ago, she was kind of a manipulative, controlling bitch. Who had year and a half long relationships at 14, really? She was hot, which had held his teenaged interest for a while, but then she just wouldn't let go, like a tick. He had to burn her off.

He'd been skeptical of Reyna when she took over command of their company, but she instantly became his favorite officer. The other officers he'd trained under had constantly made exceptions for him during various activities because no one knew where his aptitudes really lay. Reyna hadn't given him any slack and pushed him through every training exercise with everyone else. She'd believed he could be the best all round soldier in the Legion because he wasn't tied down to one discipline by his lineage. As he thought back, he realized Reyna was the first person who'd ever believed he was anything other than an animal loving freak the gods liked to pick on. She'd taught him he was much more than that, that he was valuable, both as a soldier and a friend. Though he was realistic enough to know her leadership limitations, Reyna had earned Bobby's undying respect. She'd even introduced him to Hazel who baked him awesome cookies and was the one friend he had who'd never once tried to empathize with him over being unclaimed. As Bobby looked at Reyna's weary form and haunted eyes, he decided it was his turn to lead her. He would help her regain her self-respect.

"So, I know Alabaster, but I don't know any of your names," Bobby inquired, breaking up his troubled thoughts and turning back to face the black unicorn in front of him.

_You may call me Starbuck,_ the basalt unicorn replied. _And this is Sunflower_, he indicated the golden female who stepped forward beside him. He flicked his head toward the coppery unicorn to Bobby's left, _She is Phoenix._

_I am November_, the silvery male spoke as he walked forward with the much more subdued child. _And this is Pearl._ The girl looked up at him with such blind adoration, it was unnerving.

"So," Bobby recapped for Reyna's benefit, "Alabaster, Phoenix, Starbuck, Sunflower, November, and Pearl." Unicorns were hippies, who knew? "It's very nice to meet all of you, considering you're supposedly extinct." He half expected some snide comment from one or other of the charm, but they merely looked at each other nervously, perhaps waiting for someone to take up this touchy subject.

_We would be, Master. We are the last of our kind and are weary, but we were promised, _Ali said finally as she crossed the cave from where she'd been sulking.

"So you're speaking to me again?" Bobby questioned skeptically.

_Yes, well, _she gave him a level stare,_ my family is somewhat superstitious. They do not like speaking of our impending demise, so I must, especially since Pearl has sped its arrival._ The young unicorn hung her head in shame and ran to the opposite end of the den to hide. Apparently Ali's word selection was no better when talking to unicorns than with humans.

"A little harsh, don't you think? Is she really responsible?" Bobby queried.

_My apologies, after so many years of impotency, her _birth_ was the catalyst of our doom, not her._ There was a general outcry from Starbuck and November at the mention of impotency, but Bobby had the distinct impression this was no slip of the tongue, or mind…whatever. Ali snorted and Percy sniggered confirming his suspicion.

"That doesn't make any sense, shouldn't a new birth after so many years be a good thing for a dying species?"

_When a unicorn is born, its color is always determined by the father._ A quick survey revealed no white male unicorns.

"What happened to her father?" Percy asked. He'd apparently recovered from his giggle fit.

_He is hale and hearty, sea child,_ November blustered, tossing his silvery mane and puffing out his chest.

_I don't know about hearty_, Ali murmured sardonically.

"Wait—" Bobby stammered pointing alternately between Ali and November. "You and—him?"

_You want to talk about shameful acts_, she deprecated. He was glad Reyna couldn't hear the brazen unicorn. After the ordeal she'd just gone through, it was a pretty tasteless jibe. Percy, the eternal clown, however redoubled his laughing fit.

"But, Pearl's coat is white, you said—"

_We were promised that when a child was born clothed in its mother's skin, the son of the Bona Dea would appear to deliver us to our doom._ Bobby froze. Had she just said what he thought she had? He'd hoped for this moment since he'd learned he was a demigod. He'd dreamt that some nominally benevolent deity would descend to tell him he wasn't alone, that he had a family. He knew the gods were aloof stuck up bastards and held no delusions. Whoever his godly parent was, they would never offer to be an actual parental figure. But to know he belonged to someone, maybe had some siblings, he thought it would have been enough. If what Ali said was true though, he'd never know that feeling. He prayed she wasn't talking about him.

"And who is this son of the Bona Dea?" he asked with dread.

"Impossible!" Reyna exclaimed loudly, making the cave ring with her voice. Percy sobered under the weight of emotion in the echoing cry.

"Who is the Bona Dea?" he asked when the cave was quiet again.

_Lord?_ Phoenix addressed Bobby for the first time, ignoring both Reyna's outcry and Percy's question. _You are the son of the Bona Dea, Fauna, Lady of the Beasts, Goddess of Chastity and Fertility. Did you not know this? Sixteen winters ago, Pearl was born white as snow, when she should have been silver. Since that day we have searched for you, yet found nothing. Not even a trace, until today in the midst of tragedy you appeared._

Bobby dropped to his knees and buried his face in his hands. It was just his dumb fucking luck. He didn't want to believe it, but he could feel in the pit of his soul it was true. All these years unclaimed, well at least now he knew why. Fauna, goddess of wild beasts and agriculture, was also the Bona Dea, the good goddess, the _women's_ goddess. She was a goddess who always straddled two worlds. She existed on the boundaries of the wild and cultivated worlds, with wild animals and sowed crops both being aspects of her power. As the Bona Dea, maidens prayed for protection of their virginity and wedded women sought the blessings of her fertility. She was always on the cusp, as he had been all his life. He'd been part of the army, but always alone. Even when Reyna had been his commander, she had trained him as a jack of all trades, but he was a master of none. He would never know his mother, men were not allowed in her presence or in her worship. Nor would he have any siblings; he hadn't heard of any children of Fauna since King Latinus. He wondered if the old king had felt as frustrated by that knowledge, as impotent to deal with it as Bobby did.

He sincerely prayed for the first time in his life to all the gods who'd never stopped pestering him to make it untrue. Was this why they'd stalked his dreams nightly? Fauna was also supposed to have prophetic powers. Did that make him an easy target? Again he prayed this was all just a dream. Suddenly, he heard Reyna gasp. He lifted his head from his hands to see a strange white light emanating from somewhere above him. He twisted to look up, and his last vestige of hope faded as the ethereal sprig of white myrtle, symbol of Fauna, shimmered above his head. All those years he'd begged to be claimed, now that he was, he'd give anything to go back.

"Why would you search so avidly for someone who's just going to kill you?" Bobby demanded quietly after a moment. It seemed a singular irony that a son of the goddess of wild animals should have the burden of the extinction of this magical species on his shoulders. Then again it was pretty ironic for the goddess of women to have a son.

"What? Bobby, what do you mean you're going to kill them?" Reyna frantically questioned. Bobby glanced at Percy, silently asking him to explain as much as he understood. As he began telling Reyna about the promise and the search, Bobby turned back to the charm of unicorns who were all staring at him intently. Even Pearl had recovered from her indisposition and returned to fix him with her unnerving reverence. Something Phoenix had said caught at him as he looked at Pearl.

"You said Pearl was born sixteen years ago? How is that possible? She doesn't look more than 6 months old," Bobby asked. Of course, his reasoning was based on his knowledge of domesticated beasts of burden. Maybe unicorns had long lives? If she truly was born sixteen years ago, he wondered if she had his same birthday. It sounded like something the fates would do.

_She has been waiting for you, Lord_, Sunflower answered, _and for something else._

"Something else?"

_Yes, Master,_ Ali continued solemnly. _Until four days ago, Pearl has slept in stasis. Two months after her birth we received another promise and a warning._

"Another promise?"

_We were promised that our doom was not our end_, Starbuck replied. _ And we were warned that when the eve of our doom arrived, the earth would no longer be safe for us. This promise and warning drove us to search for you, Lord._

"Who gave you all these promises and warnings?" Percy interjected suspiciously. It was only the second time he'd addressed the charm. Bobby got the sense he was reluctant to speak with them directly. The way he phrased his query sounded like he was merely looking for confirmation of a fact he already knew. But Percy didn't know anything about gods and prophecies other than Juno, who'd wiped his memory and sent him to LARD and that he'd had his mind hi-jacked by—Bobby looked up at Percy sharply, sudden understanding passing between them.

_Our greatest patron, sea child, _Starbuck responded sternly. He sounded somewhat offended at being addressed by Percy. Bobby wondered how Percy had known he wasn't overly welcome inside the minds of the unicorns. Only Ali didn't seem to mind, probably because of how he'd acted with Reyna. _The goddess of the cycle, Anna Perenna. After her warning, she halted Pearl's cycle and told us she would wake when our doom was upon us._

"Your greatest patron is Anna Perenna? Not Fauna? Then why can I hear you so clearly?" Bobby wondered now extremely confused. He needed time to talk with Percy and Reyna, there were too many threads weaving on this loom for his wild mind to weft alone.

_Fauna created us from the aspects of her favorite animals,_ Ali explained. _Goats, lions…and horses, which is why the sea child has some ability to understand us._*****_ As Fauna's child, however, you regrettably have full access to our minds. As a goddess of the wild, Fauna has left us to the will of nature. We honor her duly as our creator; however, Anna Perenna holds our hearts. As the goddess of the year, she represents constant renewal. At the New Year we honor her for the restoration of purity to the world._

"Regrettably?" Bobby focused her commentary feeling hurt.

_My apologies, Master. I meant it is regrettable that _we_ have full access to _your_ mind._ He gave her a flat stare as she once again snorted her laughter. He wondered if this weird sense of humor was universal to unicorns. Was this the origin of the word corny?†

"Thanks, I don't like it much either," Bobby retorted. He turned his attention from the sniggering beast to address Starbuck again. "You said Pearl woke up four days ago?"

_Yes, Lord, _Starbuck reiterated. _She awoke as we felt the earth grow uneasy._

"The earth? Is that what the warning meant?" Bobby wondered. He thought back to the events of four days ago, when everything had turned to shit. A lot had happened, but nothing that indicated an uneasy earth. Percy had arrived at the Wolf House then kicked their asses at his initiation battle; the pegasus colt Roulette had been born and almost died along with Hazel, Reyna's spell and his and Percy's lives now keeping them in stasis; Percy had revealed himself both as powerful and a potential enemy; the prophecy had set them on this quest. Bobby couldn't remember any earthquakes or anything, though he'd lived in California so long, he barely felt them anymore.

_There were no outward signs, Lord,_ Sunflower interposed his thoughts. _But as Pearl awoke, we felt a sense of danger under our hooves._ He turned his gaze to the young unicorn and she shivered with excitement. The others seemed enthusiastic to have found him after sixteen years of searching, but Pearl's exhilaration was extreme.

_You'll save us, Lord!_ she piped gleefully in the vaults of his mind.

"I thought I was supposed to usher you to your doom," Bobby rejoined with a slight smile. He thought back to what Percy had told him of his encounter with the goddess of the year. Neither Bobby nor Reyna had known why Anna Perenna was interested in Roulette at the time. But she had foretold generations ago their arrival here among the last of the unicorns. Or at least _his _arrival. Regardless, he figured it was no coincidence that Pearl had awoken the day the pegasus had been born and broken. The goddess' interest in him confirmed it.

_Our doom is not death, Master_, Ali retorted. _Anna promised us it would not be our end._

"Yeah, it could be worse!" Bobby could think of all sorts of things worse than death for these beautiful, wild, free creatures. And he was about to ask them for one.

"We have a journey to make," he began.

_Yes, Lord, we know! You travel to save your lover!_

"What? I don't— What do you—?" Bobby didn't really remember the next minute or so as he stammered through various responses. And as much as he tried to deny the brazen statement, his traitorous mind kept bringing images of Hazel to mind. The way she always put everyone else before herself; her love of animals; her fantastic yellow-green eyes and dimpled smile; the way she never pitied him his fate. There was one retort he could hold onto: they certainly _weren't_ lovers. For some reason though, it never made it past his lips. He looked over to his companions at one point for support, but found both of them convulsed in gales of laughter. _Traitors_. Ultimately, the most prominent thought in his mind was that for symbols of purity and chastity, unicorns were pretty damn shameless. He managed to compose himself after a few moments and noticed that the charm as a collective was staring at him, heads cocked and snorting in laughter. _Damn it! Get out of my thoughts!_ They only snickered harder.

"_Regardless_ of the reason," Bobby stared them down as he regained full control. "We have a long way to go, and only a short time to complete our task. Please know if we weren't desperate, I would never ask—"

_Master, we will take you where you need to go, _Ali interrupted ruffling her mane slightly at his awkwardness. _It's true we are prideful and would normally never stoop to servitude, but we are the last. Our fate is tied to you, Robert Mallory. You ask us to bear you to your destination and we shall. _

"Thank you," he sighed relief. With a shock, he realized this was the first time she had tried calling him by name, except, "Please call me Bobby." He had his own pride too.

_Where do you travel, Lord?_ the quiet Phoenix asked.

"I thought you all knew where we were going," he replied cynically.

_No, Master, just why_, Ali retorted with mock innocence. Oh, this journey was going to be _such_ fun! He decided to ignore her jibes for the moment.

"Well, our first destination—"

_The valley of frozen fire!_ Starbuck gasped.

Apparently an image of their first destination had formed in Bobby's mind before he could form the words. If Bobby had been unsure about their proposed destination before, the black unicorn's startled exclamation erased any doubt. He thought about the prophecy: _A frozen paradise in fiery sleep_. It certainly didn't seem like coincidence that Starbuck's perception of his thought was so similar in wording to the prophecy's foretelling. The following line of the prophecy also seemed to confirm their course. _The fertile virgin's hand to keep._ As much as he wished it were different, it was clear 'fertile virgin' referred to him. Until today, he'd always just chauvinistically assumed it meant Reyna. Obviously, that could not be true, and if he thought back to the Council meeting, no one had made any assumptions there either on that line. Of course they all knew there was one member of the quest it _couldn't _refer to. He sighed to himself at how much fate was a twisted son of a bitch.

"Yes, we must go to Yellowstone National Park, or as you call it, the valley of frozen fire," he confirmed.

_No, Lord! You mustn't go there. Please!_ Sunflower pleaded desperately. The rest of the charm seemed equally beseeching.

_There is great danger there, Master Bobby_, Ali added. He wondered if she'd ever just call him by name. _We will take you anywhere, but please not there!_

"What danger? Monsters? Gods?"

_Worse, Lord, _November responded nervously. _With the earth unquiet, that place holds a danger far worse than mere monsters or even gods._ _Anna warned us, the cycle of time repeats!_ It was clear the unicorns were reluctant to speak directly of whatever horror awaited them in Yellowstone. Bobby was nonplussed by their fright. The lore spoke of unicorns as fearsome creatures with no natural enemies, except humans. That they should fear this unspoken enemy filled him with dread. Unbidden to his mind arose an image of Hazel, bright eyes and warm smile gracing her round face. Thought of those eyes darkened forever overrode any other fears.

"I'm sorry, we must. Anna Perenna directed us there herself," he added for extra effect. "I wish there were another way, but our quest begins there." The charm was silent for several moments. Finally Ali stepped forward and bowed her head.

_I will take you, Master Bobby, though I fear I will not live to see our doom. _Bobby reached out tentatively to touch the unicorn for the first time. As his fingers brushed her nose, an overwhelming feeling of peace and tranquility flowed through him. It was exactly the opposite of a god's touch, which drove him wild. In that first touch, he knew he would devote his life to the restoration of this species. Foretold doom be damned. Surprisingly, quiet Phoenix was the next to step forward. She paced the den to stand before Reyna, and bowed her head.

_Please tell the broken girl, I will bear her wheresoever she will. _ He nodded to Reyna, indicating it was okay to touch the coppery-coated animal. As she did so, Bobby watched her azure eyes briefly regain their dancing fire he'd come to know so well. It was a pity it didn't last for more than a moment before the troubled dullness returned. He shifted his attention to Percy who wore an uncomfortable expression. It was a tense drawn out moment as they waited to see if any of the charm would be willing to bear the son of Neptune. There'd been a sense of unease between Percy and the unicorns, and it appeared to be growing. Though he should have been surprised, it seemed inevitable when Starbuck finally approached him.

_Sea child,_ he addressed Percy directly. _Your presence here is unexpected. Unlike our cousins born from the ocean, we are children of soil and sky, rock and wind. I will carry you to your destination, but expect no more from me._ Percy locked gazes with the large obsidian unicorn for several moments before understanding passed between them. He did not reach out in a bonding touch as Bobby and Reyna had. There was to be no true bond here. Rather than apprehension, both Percy and Starbuck looked relieved that they would not have to commit more of themselves.

"Thank you, all," Bobby said simply. "Can we leave soon?"

_Not today, Master Bobby, rest_, Ali responded.

"But it's still only about noon, there's plenty of daylight left."

_It is not the daylight which concerns me, _she replied. _Today is the solstice, and the darkness is powerful. We will rest here tonight, where there is safety in numbers. In the morning, we shall depart._

…

***Note: I pulled this unicorn origin completely out of my ass for the plot. It has no real basis in myth that I know of. Just a useful device.**

†**Speaking of corny…**


	14. Chapter 14 Reyna

_Chapter 14_

_Reyna_

_Nothing's changed_, Reyna thought wryly as she observed the landscape whipping by faster than her eyes could adjust. The last few days spent in a run-together world of indistinctness seemed unaltered from her eyes' perspective. The irony of her current situation almost garnered a smile. Most of her energy was now spent on holding two souls together while her own was hopelessly shattered at her feet. _No, not hopelessly._ Something _was _different. Though her surroundings blurred, she could see more clearly than she had in more than a year. She saw a glimmer of a path forward where previously had only been brambles and thorns. The cool morning air whipping past her face, resolutely tangling her long, roasted coffee hair soothed her more than months of futile rationalization ever had. Below her, the strong surge of the unicorn's muscles propelling them towards their destination offered a new discomfort, a healing pain. Turning her gaze from the speeding hills, Reyna focused forward to consider her companions.

For once, she found herself in the rear of the group. Bobby led the convoy on Alabaster, with Percy on Starbuck directly following. For whatever reason, Phoenix lagged behind. She seemed to keep pace, just at a distance. As Reyna was still bound by her own thoughts, she didn't mind the forced solitude. For what seemed like the first time in days, her musings reached outside her own troubles. The revelations of the previous evening had rocked her more than she thought possible given her current detachment. Bobby had always been somewhat of an outsider in the army. With no particular weapon affinity or powers other than a way with animals, he'd never fit in with the normal division of duties. Unlike some of their earlier commanding officers, Reyna had liked having him in her company. Except for pegasus maneuvers, he wasn't really spectacular at any given discipline, but he was better at each than any other non-specialist. And he was the best at any discipline where it crossed over with animals. He wasn't as accurate an archer as an Apollo kid, but none of them could best him on the hunt. She knew he preferred the dual daggers because they got him in close to his enemies like a pouncing wildcat, though he wasn't as skilled with them as a Mercury or Minerva child. The one area he was hopelessly outmatched was tactics and games. Reyna had always suspected it had nothing to do with brains, he just didn't seem to care. His instincts were wild, and strategy was too orderly for him to give a second thought. Though seemingly impossible to believe, the revelation of his parentage explained a lot.

To her knowledge, a child of the Bona Dea had never been found, at least not since LARD had been keeping records. Nor had anyone ever expected one. With men forbidden her worship, the thought of her producing a child, much less a son, seemed unbelievable. True, Fauna had had children, but that was before she took up the mantle of the Bona Dea. Though the unicorns were marvelous creatures, if it had been merely their word that Bobby was the son of Fauna, Reyna might not have believed it, but the vision of white myrtle was undeniable. Myrtle had always been a symbol of the Good Goddess. It was said that her father Faunus had once caught her drunk and whipped her with myrtle branches in punishment. Thus, white myrtle had become a symbol of the goddess' purification. Looking at Bobby as he rode in silence ahead of her, she wondered how much he knew about his mother. He never attended their religious classes, another intentional slight against the gods who'd denied him so long, so he may not have learned much about this goddess. She weighed his immediate reaction to the news against his current stoic mask and figured he knew enough to feel like he'd rather not have learned his identity. He'd always been a self-imposed loner, now he was forced into it. No siblings, no visits from mom, no idea who his mortal father was, if there even was one. He could have been a virgin birth, though she doubted it. Not even Minerva had children without at least mental assistance from a man.

She pulled the stained shard of Ali's horn from her jacket pocket marveling at the rosy light that shone from within. Knowing Bobby's origin added yet another layer of significance to the symbolic object. Not only did it remain pure in the midst of blood, it had been given to her by the son of a goddess of female purity to help lead her out of her darkest turmoil. Presented to her by the fertile virgin himself. Despite herself and all she'd come to realize about herself in the past days, she chuckled softly at that thought. She and all the other members of the Council had known that verse of the prophecy had not referred to her, but no one thought it could possibly refer to cynical smartass Bobby. Likely it had meant someone they would meet along the way, or even the Good Goddess herself. But now they were off to Yellowstone by the hand of Bobby Mallory and his unicorn friends. Reyna hadn't known their exact destination until last night, only that it was somewhere in Wyoming.

"Why are we going to Yellowstone? And what was it they called it?" Reyna had asked after they'd settled into the afternoon in the dry cave.

"Yellowstone is where Old Faithful is, isn't it? That's where Anna Perenna told Percy we had to go," Bobby explained.

"Uh…she did? Her directions sounded like gibberish to me," Reyna replied skeptically. Bobby adorned an aloof expression.

"That's because you're not as _attuned_ to nature as I am," he snooted haughtily. She was pretty sure the bruise she left on his arm after that would be around for at least a week and a half. "Seriously though, she said to find the place where faithful order had been born of great instability. Well, geysers are just natural steam vents formed where lava heats an aquifer close to the surface of the earth. What's more unstable than lava? And they don't call it Old Faithful for nothing. The geyser erupts on an extremely regular schedule, so _voila_: faithful order arises from chaos."

"Don't you think that's all a bit coincidental? Aren't most geysers pretty regular in their eruptions? Our destination could have been just right up the coast in the northern Sonoma Valley. There's tons of geysers up there, you know," Reyna countered.

"Yeah, but Anna went out of her way to mention it was 'faithful'," Percy chimed in. "It makes sense, and when Starbuck called it the plain of frozen fire, it kinda sealed the deal." Reyna looked sideways at Percy as she considered the similarities between the prophecy and the unicorns' nomenclature. It seemed to fit.

"But why is Yellowstone the 'plain of frozen fire' anyway?" Reyna had always been more concerned with magic and mysticism than natural phenomena, and this discussion on geology on top of her silent internal struggles was giving her a massive headache.

"Because Yellowstone is a caldera," Bobby announced matter-of-factly. The blank stare on Percy's face indicated he hadn't been privy to this knowledge either. It made Reyna feel a little less ignorant as she fixed Bobby with her own vacant expression.

"A caldera is the depression left by a super volcano," Bobby explained. "You remember the big eruption of Mount St. Helen's a couple summers ago? The one that eventually released Typhon?" Reyna nodded, noticing that Percy had a strange bemused look on his face as though he almost remembered the catastrophic event and that for him it had some pleasant significance. She began again to wonder about the guy's sanity. "Well, think of a volcano about 1000 times bigger, and you get close to the eruption that created Yellowstone." He reached over to Percy's pack and pulled out a seismic geology textbook the size of a butcher block.

"Wait, Percy you've been carrying that thing around for three days? On foot?" He just looked at her with a 'so what?' expression. She didn't have to wonder anymore, he was definitely crazy.

"Here it is," Bobby continued after leafing through the book to the page he was looking for. "It says the Yellowstone caldera has erupted three times that they know of. Once about every 600,000 years, and it's about 40,000 years overdue now. And the fact that there are geysers like Old Faithful is a good indication that magma is still pretty close to the surface. I'd say that qualifies it to be a _frozen paradise in fiery sleep_ or a 'plain of frozen fire', don't you?"

The conversation had drifted to other topics and Reyna had slowly filtered herself out of it. She worried about this great danger they were heading into as much as the boys did, but she just couldn't focus her mind on it as they considered preparations and potential strategies. She'd hoped Percy would be better at such formulations than Bobby, but the few snippets of conversation she picked up found the two of them evenly matched in the planning department. As she rode now, she began thinking about what they might have to face when they arrived. Bobby had relayed most of what the unicorns had told him about the threat, but it wasn't much. What seemed to keep sticking in her mind was the statement about the cycle of time repeating. If the peril they were racing towards was a reoccurrence of some past event then there should be record of it, and a way to prepare for it. She racked her brain thinking of all her history lessons for some corollary.

The first that came to mind was the Titan war. She shuddered at the thought of that catastrophe. They'd had plenty of records on that fiasco in the library, but all the preparations they'd made were pretty useless. So many of her comrades had been lost either to defection, desertion or death. If the coming threat were anything close to the Titan war, they needed to know. They might be hotheaded and primitive, and she had suffered, was _still _suffering, from their medieval traditions. Yet despite all she'd been through, she still had a great many friends in the army. They could banish her all they wanted, she would not abandon them. As she peered ahead at Bobby, indignant as he was over what he'd learned yesterday she knew he felt the same. He'd always been unshakably loyal to his friends. She smiled as she imagined how he likely spun the information of the officer initiation against the gods rather than against his friends. And there was some truth to seeing it that way. The army had gotten the idea from somewhere, who else but some immortal? It was an experience someone who doesn't quite understand human thoughts and emotions would envision as educational. But the demigods were just as much to blame. Generations of officers and not one had likely learned the intended 'lesson.' Yet still they perpetuated the idiocy.

Reyna took a deep breath, realizing she'd slipped back into her depression inducing musings. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, her eyes came to rest on Percy. She'd begun to understand last night why he was so intriguing to her. He seemed to have two different personalities. Outwardly, he was a cute, clumsy, clown who couldn't help but giggle at everything. He appeared to not have a thought in his head other than how to turn any situation into a joke. His amnesia didn't help the situation, and she knew he cracked jokes and made light of everything as a defense against his fears. Before she'd realized that, Reyna had been annoyed by his constant wisecracks, but now she'd give anything to have his ability to find mirth in the darkest situation. His other personality was even more intriguing though. He'd occasionally shown a depth of understanding of the human spirit that spoke more about his past experiences than if he'd been able to remember and relate them. He'd obviously been through some heartbreaking ordeals, and they'd stamped their mark on him deeper than any factual remembrance could evoke. She'd spent months trying to make sense of her emotional shackles. She'd never been able to find the key to breaking them, but in ten minutes, Percy—who didn't really even know her—had unlocked the chains and pushed her toward the light. It was still so far away, but she was moving again. She thought again about the horn shard in her pocket. Bobby had told her about Ali's observation, that Percy's blood was marked by the hopes and dreams of mankind. Perhaps his unique understanding of despair arose from those hopes and dreams. Regardless of the source though, this second personality Percy bore was drawing Reyna closer and closer to the brink.

Taking an objective stance, she knew how wrong these feelings were, for both of them. She was certainly in no position to give herself to anyone, and he didn't deserve the burden that she currently was. But in the depths of despair, objectivity has a funny habit of slipping through one's fingers faster than sand. All Reyna could see was that this boy had a keener understanding of her and her experiences in only five days than anyone she'd ever known, even Jason. Jason had always been a good friend to share laugh or spar with, but looking back, Reyna couldn't remember a single time they'd shared a serious emotional conversation. He'd always kept his feelings aloof from everyone and never wanted to bear the burden of anyone else'. He was the consummate officer. In contrast, she had thrown herself completely open at Percy's feet, and rather than shove her back as Jason would have done, he sifted through the wreckage she'd presented him without hesitation and found her path to hope. As she watched his black hair bobbing and flowing with the motion of the midnight unicorn beneath him, she could no longer deny her growing feelings for him. A small voice representing the sliver of reason left to her told her she should hope Percy was stronger than her. She hadn't told anyone, but she knew exactly what the final couplet of the prophecy meant, or at least of whom it referred.

Reyna was jolted from her musings by a shout from ahead. She couldn't tell who had yelled or what he said, but she saw Ali and Starbuck surge forward to an unbelievable speed and flashes of gold and bronze from her two companions. Phoenix sped up in response to the other unicorns, but she was still lagging behind, and the faster she tried to move, the more it felt to Reyna that she struggled against some weight. Reyna searched desperately for their attackers but saw nothing. Closing her eyes, she began an ancient Sumerian incantation. She didn't often use spells of non-Western origin, they tended to be unpredictable and often double edged. But watching her companions in obvious distress over something she couldn't see and speeding further away from where she could aid them called for out-of-the-box thinking.

She'd only begun learning the Sumerian spells a few weeks ago, and this one was definitely the most complex she'd yet discovered. In theory, it should have let her look into another's mind and control the subject's recent memories like a recording. She was hoping she could get a better sense of whatever peril Bobby and Percy were experiencing by sifting through what they'd seen. She released the spell hoping Bobby was still within her range. The current state of Percy's memories made him a poor target for this particular spell. That was the other edge of this particular dagger. If used on someone with incomplete, altered, or skewed memories, the connection could backfire in any number of disastrous ways. She hadn't even considered using it to help him recover his lost memories because she would likely lose her mind in the void left by their absence. Unfortunately, Percy was exactly who the spell found.


	15. Chapter 15 Reyna

_Chapter 15_

_Reyna_

Helpless despair was closing around her again. She'd just been pointed down the road to redemption, and now it crumbled steadily under her feet. Swirling in the fullness of Percy's vacant memories, Reyna desperately grasped for anything, any shred of thought to pull herself free. It was like trying to capture smoke with a net. If his mind had been completely void of his life experiences, she would have been able to push free. She would have been able to find his recent memories easily and focus on them. But his mind was far from empty. On the contrary, hundreds of faces, places, and events churned endlessly through a dense fog before her. The morass was so thick, none of the memories were any more distinct to her outside observance than they could have been to Percy. She needed to find a recollection that was distinct and solid, but everything flowed relentlessly into everything else. Without the solid ground, she was lost in Percy's personal timeline with no direction towards past, present or future.

She began to readjust her position on his amnesia. She'd thought his memories had been stolen, but they were all still here. Not that he or anyone else could make sense of them, but they weren't gone. Any time a recollection began clear through the miasma, Percy's mind seemed to thrust it away. It was more like—with some obvious godly help—he'd turned his back on them intentionally. Reyna of all people could understand the desire to forget, but everything? Even she couldn't imagine a reason for wanting to wipe the slate completely clean. Well, if that's what Percy had wanted, he was in for a rude awakening one of these days. Even though she couldn't distinguish between them, the vast number and breadth of experiences this sixteen year-old held would eventually come crashing down around him. She again hoped he was stronger than she was; she would have broken under the weight.

A vision suddenly appeared in front her much clearer than anything she'd seen in the seeming hours she'd been floundering in Percy's consciousness. Reyna was about to lunge towards it, but the strangeness of it held her back. It was both tantalizing and terrifying because she both wished it could and knew without a doubt that it couldn't possibly be a true remembrance. The vision presented itself in still frame like a photograph, though more vivid than any she'd ever seen because it was emotionally colored by Percy's perception. She could literally feel what he did when looking at this image.

The scene was simple enough, a couple walking hand in hand down the beach of a small northern cove; there were no palm trees in the forest on the other side of the dune, only tall defrocked maples and oaks spotted with the green of various firs. It was obviously cold since the girl walked huddled closely with her boyfriend. Percy's reminiscence of this event was far from chilly, however. The depth of feeling associated with this image was staggering, and Reyna would have felt the voyeur if it weren't so perplexing. Both people had their heads down, but the boy was obviously Percy, a fact which didn't bother her in the slightest. It was his supposed memory after all. She fixed her gaze on the girl: medium-tall, slender, with long straight dark hair. She'd only been looking in the mirror for fifteen years, but Reyna was pretty sure she knew herself even without seeing her face.

But there was absolutely no way that could be true. First of all, she'd only known Percy for five days, none of which had been spent anywhere near a beach. This was also a memory from somewhere winter actually existed. Until this morning when they'd entered the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Reyna could count on one hand the number of times she'd even seen snow, much less be accustomed enough to freezing temperatures to walk down a windy beach in them wearing only a sweater and leggings. Then there was the way she perceived Percy's feelings about this vision. He was in _love_ with this bizzaro Reyna, and it frightened her how desperately she longed for this image to be true. After everything she'd been through, to have that kind of feeling devoted to her was beyond alluring.

On the other hand, Reyna felt wrong at having been cosmically photoshopped into Percy's memory. There was obviously a girl somewhere out there he had left behind, someone he loved. How had she reacted when he _chose_ to wipe his own memories clean of her? Did she even know? Had Percy just disappeared in the night like Jason leaving her to search for or despise him? And now, worse than being merely forgotten, this girl was being supplanted. Despite her own growing feelings for Percy, Reyna wasn't sure she could just let him believe she was someone she clearly wasn't. And if she did let him believe what this vision told him, she would always wonder whether it was Reyna he loved or who he _thought _she was. Could she live with that? She resolved to ask him about this girl, or at least if he remembered having a relationship. That was all assuming she could escape his mind.

As she thought again of her predicament, the picture before her began to move. The couple started walking toward her slowly, obviously enjoying each other's company. The weirdness of seeing her-not-self only increased as it became a moving memory. The movement of her body was so completely _Reyna_,she nervously wondered just how closely Percy had been watching her over the last few days. She stood transfixed, desperately hoping the girl would raise her face. She knew it would look just like hers, but there was something she had to see. This image had been brought forth for a reason, and it was desperately close to revealing itself. A gust of wind blew the girl's hair into her face, forcing her to lift her head and brush it back. The action revealed the only piece of the memory girl that was _not_ Reyna. As she brushed the hair back, her gaze locked with the real Reyna. The fierceness of those stormy grey eyes staring at her out of her own face sent a cold shock down Reyna's core. She was thrust into disorienting darkness once again until a moment later she was once again aware of her surroundings.

The memory she awoke into was definitely a true reminiscence. Percy's description of his dream with Lady Juno and Jason had been just as vague as the fuzzy scene playing out before her, but at least there were no disturbing supplantations of her into some other chick's body. Jason's form definitely looked distorted, but judging from the unpleasant feelings emanating from Percy, the comically short stature, stringy hair, and facial warts were likely a mental perception rather than some outside manipulation. Reyna laughed in spite of herself, not so much at his twisting of Jason's appearance, but that she so clearly recognized him.

Focusing on the conversation proved difficult; it was stunted and disconnected by Percy's imperfect recollection. Reyna vaguely caught something about a prison and a winter solstice deadline. She hoped that whatever was supposed to happen before then had, since it was definitely post-solstice now. The world was still there when they awoke that morning, so she had to assume they were safe for the moment. The scene froze as Percy clearly came to the extent of what he remembered. Reyna had no idea what to do, this was not a memory she could use to extricate herself. Percy had no idea when this dream had occurred; it didn't fit into a workable timeline. The previous memory she'd stumbled into had a clear purpose for her, so why was she here now?

"You should not be here. It is too early for him," Lady Juno remonstrated cruelly as she broke free of the frozen image and took a few steps towards Reyna. The goddess' face was no longer shrouded in haze, though the look of disgust on her face made Reyna wish desperately for the fog to return. Shocked into stunned silence, she simply stood staring at the goddess, jaw on the floor, for a few moments.

"T-too early, my lady?" Reyna stammered as she recovered and sunk to one knee in genuflection. She had always tried to give the gods her respect, but the supplication served to lower her gaze from the hurtful expression the queen leveled at her.

"On your feet, whore. I will not be worshipped by your kind," Juno spat. Reyna felt each word like a dagger of ice through her already wounded soul. She knew Juno wasn't the most tactful goddess, but this open hostility stunned her to her core. It was nearly enough drive her into complete darkness, which while in the midst of this spell would have driven her completely insane. But something bolstered her spirit, and she forced herself to stand and stare defiantly at the deity before her.

"No worries, Your Bitchiness. You certainly won't be getting any devotions from _this_ hussy anymore," Reyna retorted spitefully. Her ire was based on false confidence, and the anger rising in Juno's eyes almost broke her again.

"You may have been 'absolved' by your unicorn friends, but I know better," Juno sneered. "My misguided son may have suggested that stupid ceremony, but _you_ are the idiots who have perpetuated it for countless generations. Your poor mother actually pities you, but I have no sympathy for morons."

"Nice to know you love your generals who've fought for your family for all those generations. Really instills us with confidence." Reyna couldn't take much more, the cracks in her defense widened with each vitriolic word the goddess spewed at her. Luckily, Juno decided to change tack.

"As much pleasure as it would give me to let you wallow in the depths of Percy's mind for the rest of your days, it is too risky," the goddess sighed. "Your filthy presence here has already aroused too many memories best left dormant. Memories that lead to weakness where strength is necessary. Be gone, slut." Reyna was hit by a wave of force as Juno flicked her hand at her in disdain. The shadowy world of Percy's mind was obliterated in blinding light and pain as her spell was brushed brusquely aside by the arrogant goddess. The pain was so unbearable that for a moment, Reyna was sure the bitch had killed her. Then as violently as it had begun, the brightness and sting were gone.

She was blissfully back inside her own mind and for a moment forgot the situation, which had forced her into Percy's in the first place. Then the feel of Phoenix's desperate loping strides beneath her raised her adrenaline and brought her back to their dire circumstances. _Well that spell was fuckin' useless_. She strained her eyes forward again toward the boys, frantically searching for some sign of what they were fighting or running from. Finally she saw a brief movement in the bushes several yards behind Starbuck. She still couldn't tell what pursued them, but at least they weren't crazy. She racked her brain for another spell she could use to determine their enemies until she suddenly smacked herself in the forehead in realization.

How could she forget one of the most basic spells? The seeing spell was literally the first technique taught to young Trivians. It helped you see a great distance and with better clarity than one's normal sight. Knowing your surroundings was the first step in staying alive, and so it was the first spell you learned. She couldn't believe how stupid she was risking her sanity on a complex non-Western spell she'd just learned before even trying the seeing spell. If they made it through this, Reyna vowed no one would ever know. How embarrassing…

She intoned the brief Latin incantation along with the small hand movement to cast the charm. Instantly her senses sharpened and her vision raced forward. She remembered how disorienting the sensation had been the first hundred or so times she'd cast it. She had a weak stomach as it was, and the vertigo induced by this spell had tossed her lunch more times than not until it had become second nature. Second nature or no, this was the first time she'd ever cast it from a galloping unicorn and the nausea almost overtook her again. What she saw ahead of her tightened her gut in fear, throwing those ideas of puking out the proverbial window.

Keeping pace with Ali and Starbuck were what appeared to be men, on foot! They weren't just keeping pace, they were driving the unicorns faster and faster. It seemed impossible for men to run so fast. Reyna knew they'd traveled almost 300 miles in half a day at mild canter even through the deep snow. Maybe not as fast as a space-skipping centaur, but still a good clip. They were somewhere in the vast emptiness of northern Nevada now and apparently trespassing near the territory of these super speedy fellows. A sudden realization forced Reyna to concentrate on the attackers' feet, a difficult task since they were moving so fast. Yet her instincts had been correct, the runners' feet were definitely attached backwards, though it did not seem possible. These people were supposed to be extinct, and even if they weren't how could they survive outside their home valley? The air there was supposed to be enchanted such that once one entered the valley of the Abarimon, they could never survive in the outside world again.

Reyna stopped this train of thought with another face-palm. Of course you could get out again, how would there be any stories otherwise? Obviously the story had been mythisized, kind of like saying 'Great King So-and-So's magic sword lies resting in such-and-such cave from which no one has ever returned alive.' Though there might have been some truth to the legend that the air was different. Further examination of the Abarimon revealed they were wearing some sort of mask over their noses and mouths. Reyna also noticed they weren't really trying to catch the unicorns. They literally were herding them towards something.

Expanding the seeing spell, she looked ahead of Bobby and Percy for where they might be heading. The mountainous region they were riding through made seeing too far ahead a challenge. They'd been keeping as low in elevation as they could to avoid the extremely snowy peaks. But the Abarimon were now driving the boys up towards a low pass between two massive white-capped peaks. On the other side of the pass, Reyna couldn't see much of anything for several miles before the land began to rise. The realization of what she was seeing arose slowly until she was barely suppressing outright panic.

Instantly she broke off her spell and breathing deeply, muttered a new incantation. A demigod's source of power came solely from within, and this was already the third spell she'd cast in less than ten minutes. She'd picked a projection spell which would magically enhance her voice. She needed to signal Bobby and Percy to stop before they traveled over that pass. She inhaled to shout a warning, but stopped short as her eyes fell on the snow-laden peaks. She calculated the distance between Bobby and pass and took a giant risk. Rather than shout a warning the boys might not understand through the echo, she redirected her call toward the waiting mountaintops. She didn't use any specific word, just a loud concussive pop.

The spell amplified belt produced the desired effect, which began as a low rumbling. The crescendo of sound became deafening as the avalanche grew and slid down both mountains toward the saddle-point of the pass. Reyna was panting heavily as she recast the sight spell. She was still too far behind the boys to see; Phoenix labored through the snow, which had deepened as they traveled up the slopes after the others. As her vision sped forward, she noticed her mistake. Had the avalanche derived from just one of the peaks, Bobby, Percy, Ali and Starbuck would have been well enough away to avoid the deluge. But with both mountains shedding their burdens, the snow's momentum would carry it well beyond where they currently were, even if they were standing still and not barreling toward the oncoming disaster.

Panic gripped Reyna as she cycled through her store of spells searching for some way to rescue her companions. She had no teleportation spells, and even if she did, at her current level of power fatigue, it would likely have killed her. There was only one thing she could think of, but it would only get them halfway to safety. For the plan to work, she'd need Percy's help. She hoped to all the gods—save one—that he had his wits about him. Summoning all the power she could muster she began drawing the heat from everything around her until she felt like she was made of pure fire. Using a controlled thought, she directed all of the blazing energy at the snow and ice racing towards her friends. As the heat blast impacted the snow, it began to melt the frosty flood. The effect was gradual at first, but soon the energy Reyna directed at the avalanche overwhelmed the bindings of cold that solidified the water. Now rather than a barrage of ice and snow, the boys would have to deal with a wall of water. She really hoped she hadn't just made things even worse.

As Reyna dropped her concentration from the flow of energy, she noticed two things: Phoenix had stopped and she was dropping onto her forelegs in pain. It took a moment for Reyna to make the connection, but it clicked home when she started shivering uncontrollably. An unfortunate consequence of her heating spell was that conservation of energy still applied. To melt the avalanche, she'd drawn all the heat out of her surroundings like a refrigerator coil. In a matter of seconds, she'd dropped the surrounding temperature drastically, and it had already been cold. Phoenix' wearied legs buckled like hot metal under a cold tap. Reyna, emotionally and physically exhausted from her spell casting, was little better off. As Phoenix fell, she was flung unceremoniously from the unicorn's back into a huddled heap in the now burning snow. She supposed she was lucky she wasn't crushed underneath the animal, but the pain of the supercooled ice on her face drove all such optimistic thoughts from her mind.

She managed to raise herself to sitting position in time to hear echoed shouts ring through the mountains. She looked up in time to see the vast deluge erupt in a dual fountain as though being parted _a la _Moses. She didn't have the strength to cast her vision forward, but she assumed only Percy had the power to control the water like that. She hoped he'd been able to reign in Bobby. Further she hoped the water flowing around them would take care of the Abarimon, or at least slow them down. If they doubled back and came for her, she'd be an easy capture. She scooted her back up against Phoenix to share warmth and prayed the midday sun and pressure differentials would soon warm the woods up, at least to where they had been. They sat shivering together for what seemed like hours in the cold imposed woodland silence. Reyna's thoughts drifted once again to topics bleaker than any frozen mountainside as she awaited whatever the Fates had in store.


	16. Chapter 16 Percy

**A/N: This and the next chapter are so much fun ;)**

* * *

_Chapter 16_

_Percy_

_Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! _Percy's thought process hadn't really progressed much further in the last half hour or so. He and Starbuck had been enjoying a nice peaceful ride through the mountains… Ok, so 'enjoying' was a bit of a strong term. Starbuck had agreed to carry him, but the ride wasn't exactly a picnic. For the first hour of the journey, the unicorn had amused himself by violently shifting his stride every ten minutes, nearly throwing Percy each time. Each instance had been accompanied by a silent snicker from his black hearted mount. After the first hour, Starbuck had apparently thought being so regular about it was making Percy too complacent. So he began randomizing his 'comic' escapades. Just as the flea bitten mongrel had predicted, at the next scheduled bump, Percy tensed his leg grip awaiting the jolt which didn't come…until five minutes later when he'd relaxed again. Low branches weren't off limits either. By midday, Percy was riddled with scratches and bruises from various switches and brambles deliberately directed his way. He'd been extremely annoyed at the time, but now how he longed for the simple pleasure of an aggressive bush to the face.

Around about noon, as close as Percy could reckon, he and Starbuck had been cantering along behind Bobby and Alabaster, finding every branch, bramble, and sinkhole in the forest when life had gotten a lot more interesting. Starbuck had just performed another fake stumble causing Percy to fly forward and nearly impale himself on the black bastard's horn, and this time Bobby and Ali joined in the ensuing hilarity.

"Hey! No comments from the peanut gallery," Percy managed through his caught breath.

"Sorry, dude," Bobby snorted, "but it _is_ kinda funny."

_The sea child is quite uncoordinated. I thought fish were supposed to be graceful, _Ali observed. At least that's what Percy thought she said. It was still really difficult for him to understand the unicorns clearly, a fact Starbuck exploited for more of his ruthless humor. When they wanted to speak to him directly, they changed their thoughts in an attempt to make them more understandable to him, but if they were talking to Bobby or trying to fuck with him, he could only grasp about half of what they were saying.

"Yeah, well, fish out of water and all that," Percy deprecated with an internal sneer and tried to divert the conversation, "Speaking of which, where's Reyna?"

"You're right, Ali. He is graceful," Bobby mocked. "Percy that was the lamest attempt at changing the subject I've ever heard. What the hell does Reyna have to do with fish out of water?"

"Details." Percy was looking over his shoulder searching for their more attractive companion. She wouldn't laugh at his predicament. A movement in the underbrush caught his attention. They were moving pretty fast so he thought maybe he'd just imagined it. But the rustling seemed to be following them, even gaining. "What the hell is that?"

"What the hell is what?" Bobby called turning over his shoulder. Percy didn't wait for Bobby to notice the anomaly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his pen, popped the top and nearly dropped the growing sword as Starbuck chose that exact moment to run him into another low branch.

"Not now, Starfuck! Imminent danger and all that good stuff," Percy rebuked the unicorn.

_What did you call me, sea spawn?_

"You heard me." Sparing a brief glance at Bobby, Percy saw he also had drawn his weapons. _Great._ Percy hadn't caught more than some movement in the brush, but Bobby was the hunter and he probably had no trouble identifying what was chasing them. If he had his knives to hand, they were in for an interesting afternoon. All Percy knew was that whatever was out there was really frickin' fast.

"What is it?" Percy asked hopefully, not that knowledge of his attackers had really helped him in his battles the last few days. Instinct had been a better ally with his memory still AWOL.

"I have no fucking clue!" Good thing Percy had decided information was kinda useless to him. "Something humanoid."

"What are they riding? I didn't think anything could keep up with the unicorns on the ground."

"Nah, centaurs are faster," Bobby replied.

"So they're riding centaurs?" It was getting difficult to keep up the conversation. Both Ali and Starbuck had caught the scent of whatever was chasing them and had begun to increase their speed. It didn't matter though, their pursuers only seemed to run faster.

"No."

"They _are_ centaurs? I thought you said these things were humanoid!"

"NO! I mean yes—I mean…Jesus Percy, you're annoying," Bobby scowled. "They aren't centaurs and they _are _humanoid. And they're not riding anything that I can see."

"Remind me to bet on these guys in the next Olympics," Percy quipped.

"How the hell can you make jokes at a time like this?" Bobby asked incredulously

"Just part of my charm."

"Ugh, save the sap for Reyna," Bobby gagged. "We need to figure out what these things want."

"Seriously? How about 'lunch'?" Percy glanced over his shoulder again and finally caught a glimpse of one of their hunters. It appeared to be a man of medium height, wearing some sort of fur cloak that billowed and whipped in the wind created by his blinding speed. Apart from the furs and a thankfully well secured loin cloth, the man's skin was bared to the elements. It was fairly cold in the mountains, but Percy figured if he was running that fast, he'd be pretty warm without clothes too. He saw that the man was wearing some sort of breathing mask—probably breathing vaporized Red Bull®.

"Percy, look at its feet!" Bobby called.

"Um, dude, you've already got the animal thing. Now it's feet? Come on, man. It's not healthy!"

"Percy, I swear by all that's good and holy, if we make it through this alive, I will end you," Bobby vowed. "Seriously, dude, look at their feet!"

"They're moving kinda fast…Holy shit! Dude, gross! They're fucking backwards!" Percy shuddered at the sight. He wasn't all that fond of feet in the first place. Sure they had their uses—walking was good and all—but they weren't the prettiest appendage on the human body. Stick them on a guy backwards and they were just about the ugliest things he'd ever seen.

"Okay, so not human, then?" Percy inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Not sure."

"What do you mean, 'not sure'? They're super fast, backward-footed, energy drink breathing freaks. How could they possibly be human?" Percy retorted.

"Energy drink breathing? Whatever, I don't want to know," Bobby stopped him before he could reply. "Ali do you know what these things are?"

__ are _ Abarimon, Master B._

"Master B?" Percy chuckled in spite of himself.

"We're working on it," Bobby responded through clenched teeth. "Percy, have you ever heard of these Abarimon guys?"

"You're asking the guy with no memories? What about you, Mr. Beastmaster?" Percy shot back. "I thought you knew about all wild animals."

"Do they look like animals to you?"

"Well…actually…"

"Oh, never-fuckin'-mind," Bobby dismissed. "Ali, Starbuck do you guys know anything about them other than their name?"

_They _ supposed _ _ extinct, Lord_, Starbuck replied.

"So are you. What else you got?" Bobby pressed.

_They are seldom _ outside their _ _, _Ali interjected. _The legend says _ _ there is enchanted _ _ _ inhaled, you can't _. Obviously, the story was _, Master B._ She was talking for Bobby's benefit, so Percy only picked up a little. Something about not liking to go outside and inhaling something magical.

"I think I have some Fritos in my bag," Percy offered. "Maybe they just have the munchies?"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Bobby demanded incredulously as he slowly turned to look at Percy.

"Well, you know. She said something about enchanted inhalations, I just figured…" Percy explained weakly. Ali almost stopped in place, she was laughing so hard.

"DO THEY LOOK HIGH TO YOU?" Bobby pointed at the now three visible Abarimon trailing them.

"Depends."

"On what?"

"Well—"

"You know what? I don't wanna know! Keep your sordid past to yourself," Bobby cut over him. "Let's just figure out how we're gonna get out of this. Let's put on some speed and see if we can lose them." He gave Ali a mental nudge and she shot forward at a full run. Starbuck, obstinate as ever, hung back without changing pace.

"Alright, Buckman, let's get a move on," Percy urged. He maintained his easy pace, ignoring Percy completely. "Look, don't be stubborn. I know you don't want to be lunch for the freak show any more than I do." No response. "Gods, you are such a mule! Can you at least tell me if Phoenix and Reyna are ok?"

_They are safe for the moment. The girl's guilt weighs Phoenix down, and they are well behind us out of danger, sea urchin._

"Sea urchin? That's the best you got?" Percy goaded. Maybe if he got the unicorn's ire up enough, it would spur him to action. He just hoped it wasn't the kind of action that involved him flat on his ass in the snow with hungry back-footed wild men descending on him. Just then, one of the Abarimon leapt forward and rapped the onyx beast on the rump with its club.

_Perhaps we should trade insults later, manatee boy._

"Now you're getting the hang of it," Percy smiled though he did bring a hand to his stomach to check for excess blubber. Starbuck kicked it into gear and sped forward at a blazing clip. With only one hand to grip with, Percy tucked himself low over the animal's neck to avoid being caught by the gale force wind now whipping past them. After a minute, he was sure they must have toasted the Abarimon, but a quick glance to their rear showed them just as close as ever. The funny thing was they didn't even look like they were exerting themselves. It was almost like they could have caught them easily but were content simply to chase them. Percy felt the air getting cooler and wasn't surprised to find they were climbing. They'd tried to avoid that all morning, and Percy tried to get Starbuck to change course to keep them low in elevation.

As the unicorn changed direction to head down the hill, a new Abarimon appeared directly in their path forcing them to divert back to their original direction. Their actions obviated the fact that they were herding the boys somewhere. Percy knew nothing about these creatures, so he had to assume that their destination was his end. As they rode further up the mountain, a strange sensation seemed to steal over him, almost like someone was poking him in the brain. It wasn't altogether unpleasant, and at first he wondered if the Abarimon were sharing some of their special vapors with him. Almost as suddenly as the feeling began, it was gone. But he was left with an extremely heartwarming sensation, and a vision of himself huddled with someone close on a cold winter evening, someone who looked an awful lot like his attractive magical companion. Percy smiled a bit sheepishly despite himself and kept riding.

He raised his eyes for a moment searching for Bobby and Ali and spotted them just a few yards ahead. Starbuck was obviously the faster unicorn when he wanted to be. As they ascended the slope, Percy caught up with Bobby.

"They're driving us somewhere," Percy called through the wind.

"Oh, you think?" Bobby replied sarcastically. "We have to find a way to _not_ go where they're leading us."

"Why? Maybe they have a surprise party waiting for us!" Percy was no stranger to sarcasm. "We'll just head over the pass there, and they'll all pop up with cake and punch with the little umbrellas in the glasses and yell 'Surprise! The main course is here!'"

"Cute, really. I'm dying of hilarity," Bobby deadpanned. "Seriously, I have a sneaking suspicion that over that pass is their home valley. Something about the air there makes it really hard to leave once you've breathed it. That's what Ali told me, not that they were on drugs."

"I fail to see the distinction…but I agree, we need to get rid of them. Turn and fight?" Percy asked with raised eyebrows and shake of his sword. Bobby looked around uncertain.

"I dunno, they haven't really attacked us, and I don't like killing anything I'm not going to eat," Bobby quavered.

"I was thinking more along the lines of 'drive them off', but I promise if we kill any of them, you get the choice cuts," Percy persuaded with a straight face. Bobby gave him a disgusted look and pulled up on Alabaster to turn and face their hunters. Percy did the same brandishing his pen-sword. He was seriously going to have to come up with a better name for it than that…_Later_. They were instantly surrounded by the Abarimon, maybe a dozen in all. Percy noticed that some of them were female, but the universal backward feet thing could just not be overcome. They were all carrying some form of crude weapon, clubs, spears, hatchets, etc. Some of them had animals with them as well. Percy recognized a wolf, a badger, even a wildcat.

"Hey, Bobby maybe you should go with them," he suggested. "Lots of common interests: animals, funky feet—"

"Can it, Chuckles," Bobby warned. The Abarimon made no move to fight, but when Bobby tried to nudge Ali away from their imposed destination, spears were leveled and clubs were raised. He sighed and raised his gold daggers in a fighting stance. Percy did the same and was about to charge when a deafening bark ripped across the mountainside. The Abarimon crouched low looking around for the source of the strange noise. With a quickly exchanged glance, Bobby and Percy used their captors' distraction and urged the unicorns through the ring back down the mountain they'd just climbed. One of the Abarimon came to her senses quicker than the others and lunged with her spear straight at Starbuck's chest. Percy swung his sword on blind instinct and shattered the spear as it came close. He felt the unicorn wince underneath him, however as the tip of the spear grazed his flank briefly before Percy's sword impacted.

They were free of the ring and speeding down the mountain. Unfortunately they had underestimated the speed of their pursuers. After only about 100 yards, they were face to face again with three of the savages. Two of them lunged at the mounted pair while the third drew back its hatchet ready for launch. Percy parried his melee attacker's club and brought his sword around to bite into the creature's exposed upper arm. He didn't want to kill these people any more than Bobby did; he didn't even want to seriously maim them. He kept his cut controlled and left the man's arm with a deep gash that would prevent him from raising his club again. He was pretty certain though that the cut was healable.

When his attacker went down, the hatchet man let loose his projectile hoping to catch Percy off-guard. Percy wasn't too proud to say it worked, mostly. As it was, he was able to raise his sword in time to deflect the weapon away from his vitals. Unfortunately, he directed it straight to the same spot where he'd been nearly gored by Ali yesterday. The hatchet hit wrong to actually cut him open again, but the impact on his still deeply bruised shoulder nearly knocked him from his seat. Luckily, it wasn't his sword arm and he was able to raise it through the roar of pain in his ears to point at the thrower. Starbuck also lowered his horn at the man as he charged. The Abarimon was quick enough to evade one of the attacks but not the other. He sidestepped the horn, but Percy swung in a low arc and caught the man on the thigh with a crunch. This swing was a bit more forceful, but he was still satisfied he hadn't permanently injured the man.

Looking over his shoulder, Percy saw that Bobby had easily dispatched his opponent who was now twitching and unconscious on the ground at Ali's feet. Percy took a few deep breaths hoping to clear the roaring in his head, but it just kept getting louder. He raised his head to see a look of horror splashed across Bobby's face. He was looking back up the mountain toward the pass they were trying to avoid. Percy followed his gaze to see a giant wall of ice bearing down on them.

"I told you they had a surprise waiting for us," Percy wisecracked as he and Starbuck turned heel and charged back down the mountain. He felt a twinge of guilt at the adversaries they'd left immobilized to await their doom, but since it was likely their own as well he didn't dwell on it long. He had to give the Abarimon one thing, they were persistent. Even in the face of their deaths racing towards them, they tried to turn the boys around. As they were fighting their second group, the entire melee was nearly knocked to the ground by a force of energy racing up the mountain toward the oncoming destruction.

"It's Reyna," Bobby called. "She's the only one with power like that other than a god, and I doubt any of _them_ give a rat's ass if we die here." Behind them the roar began to change. Where the sound had been somewhat muffled before with the occasional snap of an unlucky tree, now the noise sounded free as if it leapt joyfully down the slopes. Percy ducked a club swipe and knocked it free from his attacker's hand. He quickly reversed his stroke and brought the hilt down on the top of the woman's head. He turned to look up as she fell to the ground unconscious and saw the barrage of ice and snow that had been sliding relentlessly toward them was now a vast torrent of water.

"What the fuck was she thinking?" Percy shouted at Bobby who'd just dispatched his foe and noticed the deluge about to drown them. His eyes widened so far, Percy was pretty sure they would have just fallen out if he'd been looking down.

"Percy! Quick, do your water thing!"

"What water thing?" he responded stupidly.

"Are you a son of Neptune or not?" Bobby squealed desperately.

"Oh! Right." Percy nudged Starbuck over close to Alabaster and began concentrating. He tried to remember how it had felt to use his powers at the feast. That had been an emotional response to Dakota's goading and the mob calling for his head. He opened his eyes and looked at the approaching death. _Yep, lots scarier._

"Percy, what are you waiting for? Do something!"

"I'm working on it," Percy gritted through his concentration. He felt the strange pull in his gut that he remembered as he thought about how to save them all from this threat. As the feeling intensified, Percy had one of those vague recollections from his previous life of a movie scene with a guy in red robes standing on the seashore. _What the hell?_ Percy held his arms up in a wide V as the pull in his stomach threatened to unseat his breakfast. The wall of water that should have pummeled them into nothingness never touched them. Percy opened his eyes to see two towers of water shooting up on either side of them as the melted avalanche flowed harmlessly around them. Looking behind them briefly, he saw they were in a sunken island with water surging all around them. After several minutes, the water level began to subside.

When the deluge had run its course and nothing surrounded them but soggy trees and dripping underbrush, Percy slowly dropped his arms. As his adrenaline subsided, the weariness of using so much power nearly drove him off Starbuck's back. He wrapped a steadying arm around the unicorn's neck to avoid giving the animal more fodder for taunts. Starbuck raised his head and looked around sharply as if he was listening for something.

"What's wrong?" Percy inquired faintly. He didn't even have the energy left to come up with a witty nickname. It was a sad state of affairs, indeed.

_Phoenix_, he replied simply. Percy whipped out his serious face at the cryptic response. If something was wrong with Phoenix, Reyna was in trouble too. He didn't have time to ask what that trouble might be before Starbuck shot off through the slowly freezing woods. All that water was turning to ice as the mountain air took hold. This area wouldn't be passable for much longer. As they descended the mountain at lightning speeds, Percy felt the air growing steadily cooler. It seemed backwards; they'd been keeping low all day to avoid the cold and snow at higher elevations and now the cold and ice were getting worse the lower they went. After a mile or so, they passed the last vestiges of the avalanche and began running again on unmolested snow. Still gripping Starbuck's neck for dear life, Percy spared a quick glance behind them. Bobby and Ali were making their way down the mountainside after them, but the black unicorn wasn't sparing any effort trying to let them keep pace. He was faster and was using all his speed to find Phoenix.

Percy watched as the trees around him turned from lively evergreens burdened with snowy branches to fully frozen stalagmites as the temperature dropped unbearably low. They almost looked flash frozen like giant fish sticks. The thought of fish sticks made his stomach growl slightly as he realized they'd missed lunch, but he put the thought from his mind. Kind of hard to eat anything if his fingers fell off.

"Starbuck, it's too cold!" Percy whispered, something about the extreme chill spoke of the need for silence. "We need to turn back, there's no way they're in there."

_They are at the center_, the unicorn responded. Well that was just great. Percy was regretting his earlier thoughts on the uselessness of feet now that he couldn't feel his anymore. He realized he was actually pretty attached to them.

A sudden movement to his left brought his attention back to the present. At least one of the Abarimon had apparently survived the flood. Starbuck caught wind of the creature as well and redoubled his speed trying to keep pace, but the savage man was too quick and pulled ahead of them. The unicorn's frustration was palpable as he dashed through the icy forest. The freezing wind whipping by Percy's face instantly chapped his expose skin and burned into the cracks. _So much for that strong protection Ali was talking about._ He was going to have to buy a giant tub of Vasoline after this. He figured they must have been getting close to the girls when Starbuck's desperation reached unprecedented levels.

They burst into a small clearing to find the six remaining Abarimon—the ones he and Bobby hadn't taken down—closing a menacing circle around Reyna and Phoenix. Both were on the ground shivering back to back, obviously exhausted. They put up no resistance. In a blind rage, Starbuck charged at the nearest assailant's back with no regard for preservation of life. Though he had no chance of dealing with the speed of the Abarimon on foot, Percy had no desire to be party to what Starbuck seemed about to do. He jumped clear of the unicorn and by some instinct turned his dive into a somersault and sprung to his feet, sword flashing. Luckily, his acrobatics landed him within sword length of one of the creatures. He ducked under a hasty club swipe and slashed at his opponent's knee. The impact forced the man to kneel and Percy reversed his stroke towards his head. The flat of his blade made a thudding crunch as it concussed the savage warrior, knocking him fully to the ground.

Looking up quickly, Percy had just enough time to swipe a thrown spear out of the air before it gored him through the chest. The speedy Abarimon closed the gap between them before the spear hit the ground and tried to knock Percy's sword from his grasp. Percy quickly brought his free arm around and grabbed his new attacker's wrist. Using the momentum of his opponent's strike, Percy spun while extending his leg forcing the unbalanced assailant to the ground. He twisted the arm he still held and pressed his knee into the Abarimon's back. A quick, forceful rap on the base of the skull with his sword hilt drove Percy's second opponent off to dreamland.

Percy turned as he rose to find the remaining warriors backing away fearfully. There were only three of them standing, and he realized quickly it wasn't him they were afraid of. Starbuck stood menacingly over the first Abarimon he'd lunged after, blood dripping from his horn. Thankfully, Percy could see the hunter was still moving, but the giant hole through its upper torso certainly didn't look healthy. Starbuck reared back apparently intent on finishing the job.

"Starbuck! Stop!" Percy pleaded loudly into the quiet frozen air. The garishness of Percy's cry against the silence seemed to shock the unicorn, and he paused.

_They _ _ kill _ wife!_ The thought blasted through Percy's mind like a thunderclap. Through his anger, the unicorn couldn't alter his thoughts for Percy to understand clearly, but he'd grasped enough. No wonder Starbuck had agreed to carry him, though he clearly detested the task. His mate had already committed herself to the journey, and he wouldn't let her go alone.

"So killing _them_ instead is right?" Percy persuaded. "I thought a unicorn would know better than that!"

_You know _nothing_ about us!_ Starbuck retorted gaining control of his thoughts again. He wanted Percy to understand him this time. _Your head is full of salt water and seaweed! The sea is good at not caring, it flows so easily. We are of immobile earth and stone, full of warmth and life and memory, but also danger and ruthlessness. We are harsh to those who are cruel and kind to those who care. These things are cruel and must be dealt with as such!_

"No! There are rivers and lakes, and even the sea in you too," Percy rejoined. "Let the water wash the anger away. They will leave us alone. Phoenix hasn't been harmed; your wife is safe. Let them go." The unicorn's nostrils flared as his stubbornness took hold. He shook his mane and turned back toward the frightened victim at his feet. He began to lower his horn again as Percy despaired and turned away.

_Starbuck, stop. The sea child is right._ Phoenix' thought was incredibly weak, but the silence that followed was deep. Percy knew her words had finally gotten through to Starbuck. He turned back to see the obsidian unicorn's head still lowered, but this time in defeat. The Abarimon who had heard nothing but Percy's side of the debate were now staring at him as though he were crazy or possessed. As long as they were afraid of it, Percy was fine with whatever they thought about him. Bobby and Ali were entering the clearing at a walk looking confused and wary as they shivered with the cold.

"Take your injured and go," Percy commanded the frightened savages. They just stood there staring at him stupidly. Apparently they didn't understand English. Percy turned to Bobby, "Do you know any other languages?" Bobby looked at him quizzically for a moment before turning to address the Abarimon. He spoke in a language Percy recognized as Latin, though he couldn't understand it. He hoped Bobby was telling them to leave and not come back and not some ancient 'your momma' joke. Thankfully the strange people didn't laugh or scowl, though they did seem to understand Bobby's directions as they slowly stepped forward and picked up their injured and unconscious comrades.

Bobby stopped the man who went to pick up the gored warrior. Kneeling next to the injured man, Bobby fished for his canteen of nectar. It was an enormous risk since they didn't know if the Abarimon could handle the sustenance of the gods. They weren't monsters. Some vague memory told Percy that if they were monsters, the mere touch of his sword would have turned them to dust. They weren't completely mortal either, or the sword would have done no damage at all to them. But that didn't mean they were amenable to godly medicine, and the application of nectar to the large wound could be just as deadly as if Starbuck had followed through. Percy held his breath as the nectar dripped slowly into the laceration. After a tense moment, the slash began to knit itself back together. It wasn't completely healed, but the man would live and could travel. Bobby stood and backed away, as the awestruck hale man helped the injured hunter to his feet. The Abarimon limped slowly off into the woods to escape both the cold and their unwilling prey.

Percy took a short step toward Starbuck, but the unicorn shot him a dangerous look. Combined with the blood still adorning his horn, he didn't strike a very welcoming pose. So instead, Percy turned his attention toward Reyna and Phoenix. Reyna seemed so delusional with cold and weariness, he wondered if she had even noticed the fight, but as he approached, the look of gratitude she fixed him with dispelled those worries.

"You got the message." Her voice was a bit dreamy, and Percy's fears of her mental state began returning.

"What message was that?" he quested tentatively. She began shivering violently again before she could respond. He knelt beside her and wrapped her in a bear hug. He rubbed her arms vigorously trying to warm her up. Eventually she regained enough control to speak again.

"I'm p-pretty sure y-you n-noticed my fl-flood." She could say that again. "I m-melted it f-for you."

"Thanks," he replied sardonically. "Why is it so frickin' cold here? It wasn't remotely this bad half an hour ago."

"H-had to d-draw the h-heat from everyth-thing around m-me t-to heat up th-the snow," Reyna explained. "Th-there was l-lots of s-snow—n-needed lots of h-heat." She dissolved back into a massive attack of shivering and couldn't go on. Bobby was kneeling next to Phoenix trying to talk with her and warm her up. He'd found a towel from his pack and was rubbing her front legs so she could at least stand.

"We need to get out of this area," Bobby implored. "It's too cold to get them warm properly. Ali can carry Reyna, but we have to walk. Phoenix is in bad shape, and there's no way she's carrying anyone until she gets some rest." After a few more minutes spent warming up the downed unicorn, she managed to unsteadily rise to her feet. She wobbled a bit as she stood like a toddler. Starbuck trotted over and provided a body for Phoenix to lean against. It was a bit more difficult to get Reyna up on Ali's back. She didn't want to let go of the small amount of warmth she got from Percy's embrace, and the shivering made mounting the unicorn problematic. But eventually they were settled enough to begin the slow march to somewhere less cold.

"We need to talk," Bobby held Percy back as the unicorns walked ahead.

"Yeah, look Bobby, about all the jokes and stuff," Percy began, assuming he was still upset about some of the battle time humor. "It's just a defense—"

"Don't worry about that, I know you're a twit," Bobby interrupted. "We have more pressing issues. Both Reyna and Phoenix are suffering pretty severe hypothermia. There's not much we can do for Phoenix other than find some shelter big enough for her and Starbuck. Direct body heat transfer is the best way to warm her up out here, unless we randomly stumble across a hot spring, and Starbuck has the biggest body for her."

"Makes sense," Percy agreed.

"Same goes for Reyna," Bobby continued with a nervous twitch in his voice. "We need to get her inside a tent and into a sleeping bag…with one of us."

"Why not both of us?" Percy asked innocently. "Wouldn't it be more efficient with two warm bodies?"

"Uh…yeah, I suppose it would be more efficient," Bobby choked. "But also a lot more awkward."

"Why? We're all friends…sort of." Bobby's face was turning a violent shade of crimson.

"Um, not that friendly, dude," Bobby protested. Percy still wasn't sure what the problem was and it must have showed on his face. "Man, weren't you listening? I said direct body heat transfer! As in the greatest possible contact area. As in she and whoever's in the sleeping bag with her should be naked!"

"Say what one more time?"

…**..**

**A/N: Okay, get your minds out of the gutter. This is still a T rated story, but I couldn't resist the massive potential for humor in this little situation. I repeat, humor, not smut. See y'all next chapter ;-)**


	17. Chapter 17 Percy

**A/N: WARNING! WARNING! Ridiculously awkward Reycy fluff imminent! Percabethians beware! (But don't lose hope, all is not necessarily what it seems.) I'll admit, this chapter was probably completely unnecessary, but it was a fun challenge trying to keep it PG-13. Working solely through innuendo and double entendre takes a lot of effort. If you're offended by slight lime-ishness, you can probably just skip to end for the last conversation without missing anything important to the story. Anyway, I hate long A/N's but this chapter needs some background.**

**The inspiration for this chapter is based on true events from my life. Short version: One summer in college (yes, I'm that old), I visited a friend doing an internship in New Mexico. We and some of her friends decided to spend the weekend climbing Wheeler Peak (~13,000ft or ~4000m for the rest of the world.) It was monsoon season, and we hiked all the first day in the rain, thoroughly soaking all of my clothing. Camping that evening at about 9000ft (~2700m), the cloud cover disappeared, the temperature dropped and I had the thinnest sleeping bag on the face of the earth. So **_**I**_** was the one who got hypothermia and my friend had to warm me up. Suffice it to say, it still stands as the most awkward night of my life. Comedians always say their best stuff comes from real life, so here you go.**

* * *

_Chapter 17_

_Percy_

"Say what one more time?" Percy squeaked quite a bit louder than intended. He stopped short despite his burning desire to continue their exit from this giant meat locker Reyna had created. She was probably just as eager to be moving on to warmer climes, but he wondered how enthusiastic she'd be if she had just heard Bobby's new 'plan' for curing her hypothermia.

"Ssshhhhh! Shit, Percy, keep your voice down! Believe me, the less time she has to acclimate to the idea the better." Bobby and Percy exchanged a long glance. Percy wasn't sure what was happening in Bobby's head, but his own thoughts were doing suicide sprints between '_Hell fuckin' YEAH!'_ and '_Holy Shit, I'm gonna violently lose my happy bits if I do this_.' He was after all a healthy 16 year-old male, and at Bobby's stunning announcement, his brain had exploded with all sorts of agreeable scenarios. Of course being only 16, he'd also like to keep himself generally in working order for at least a few more years. His insides were twisting with his ambivalence as his mind sifted rapidly through all wonderful and terrible ramifications of this course of action.

"Percy? Um, hellooo? Hey, Dipstick!" Bobby slapped him lightly across the face to bring him back to reality. "Take a cold shower there, pal. Are you back with me?" Percy shook his head to clear the cobwebs then nodded mutely. "Ok look, let's just not worry about it until we find a place to camp. It's only gonna drive us crazy, plus only one of us is on the hook anyway. If you have to think about it, just imagine how funny it'll be if it's me that Reyna ends up castrating. You shouldn't have a problem with that, Mr. Seinfeld." Bobby turned and continued following the slow procession out of the freezer.

For a while Percy tried doing what Bobby suggested, but for once he didn't seem to be able to find any humor a situation that ended with Bobby and Reyna cuddled naked together in a sleeping bag. More than anything he just felt like punching the animal loving weirdo in the mouth after each daydream. He figured the first suggestion was better and tried putting the idea completely out of his mind as he walked. At first, he tried to think of pleasant things like a day at the beach, just sitting on the sand watching the ocean pound relentlessly against the shore. But inevitably, that brought up images of girls in tiny swimsuits splashing in the surf, sending dancing rainbows through their hair… _Ok, Percy, get a grip._

The real problem was he kept thinking about that image he'd received during his flight from the Abarimon. He just couldn't get the thought of Reyna huddled close for warmth on a winter evening out of his mind. It almost seemed prophetic considering their current situation, but it hadn't really felt like a prediction, more like déjà vu. It felt so real, but Reyna hadn't known him for more than a week as far as he knew. He might not be the most clued in guy in the world, but it would take a blind man not to notice the attraction between them regardless of their short history. It was Reyna's long term history that really concerned Percy. She'd just opened up some deep emotional scars, and he wasn't sure what level of involvement in her healing process he was willing to take. In the end, he decided that despite the violent urges the thought gave him, he would remove himself from this situation entirely and force the 'burden' onto Bobby. He and Reyna had known each other a long time and had a better chance of keeping things businesslike. What was that saying about 'the best laid plans'?

The trek out of the super cooled forest seemed to take an excruciatingly long time. After traveling so fast all morning, the slow walk back down the mountain away from the Abarimon valley seemed tortoise-like. Phoenix' legs buckled underneath her twice more before they finally started feeling a noticeable uptick in the temperature. Bobby had luckily thought ahead and stuffed the towel inside his shirt in anticipation. The warming process of her frozen legs only took a fraction of the time using the warm compress. Reyna wasn't much better off. Her shivering was getting so bad Percy had to keep pace beside Ali to hold her in place. During Phoenix' second warm up, the situation took a distinct turn for the worse.

"That feels nice." Reyna had stopped shivering and burrowed down into her coat. Her voice had taken on that dreamy quality again, raising Percy's alarms.

"What feels nice?" he inquired carefully.

"It's so warm now," she smiled bemusedly.

"Fuck! Bobby, we can't waste any more time. We've got to get her warm. Now!" Bobby looked up from rubbing Phoenix' right foreleg to see Reyna's starry expression and eerily still frame.

"Shit! Phoenix we have to move. It's still too cold to set camp here." The coppery unicorn gave her best effort to rise but fell helplessly back against Starbuck's kneeling body.

__ sorry, Lord. Just leave _ here. _ catch up _ you._ Percy admired the self-sacrificing nature of this unicorn, but he knew Bobby wouldn't leave her behind, and they didn't really have time for a debate. Bobby seemed to come to the same conclusion, and Percy's fate was sealed.

"Percy, take Ali and Reyna and go. As soon as it gets warmer, drape the tent over something, don't worry about setting it up all the way. Just get her out of the wind and, well, you know…" Bobby instructed. The last part didn't need to be said again.

"Why don't _I _stay here and you—"

"Percy! Be a fuckin' man. Get her out of here!"

_I can carry you both for a short while, Sea Child. Let's go._ Percy let out a despairing sigh, but braced himself and climbed up behind Reyna. Once he was well situated with his arms around the dwindling girl in front of him, Ali shot off down the hill. Luckily it only took a few minutes before the sun began feeling warm on his neck again. They rode another few minutes until Percy saw a promising low hanging tree branch about 5 feet off the ground. Hopping quickly off the unicorn, he dropped his pack and unfurled the tent. Luckily it was an old school triangular prism tent so he was able to simply slip the open entrance flap straight over the tree branch. The level of adrenaline in his system shouldn't have been allowed, but he was grateful that it helped him drive four tent stakes all the way into the frozen ground with a single stroke of the mallet each. He ripped out the sleeping bag and threw it into the quickset tent before finally pausing.

The butterflies in his stomach felt more like a herd of rhinos as he took his first step toward the delirious girl still swaying slightly on Ali's back. Finally, desperation took over as he watched Reyna fading. He ran forward and lifted her off the unicorn. She wrapped her arms around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder with a delirium induced coo. She was definitely not making this any easier on him. He managed to get her into the tent, but found himself at a loss with how to proceed. He decided on a direct approach.

"Reyna, I-I need you to strip."

"But there's no music," she slurred with a drunken smile.

"Reyna, I'm serious, I need you to focus," Percy demanded softly.

"Sorry, no music, noooo dancin'." Apparently his 'direct approach' wasn't direct enough.

"Take your clothes off now, or I will take them off for you." Gods, he felt like a total sleeze, but he'd do what it took to save her life.

"Not even gonna buy me dinner first? Tsk tsk, not very gentlemanly." He knew it was her dire state causing this, but now he was getting annoyed.

"Reyna, your life depends on getting your clothes off right now," he almost yelled at her.

"Boy, if I had a nickel…" she scoffed. He sighed; he wasn't going to like himself very much in the morning. If he was very lucky, she wouldn't remember any of this, but thinking back on the state of his luck the last few days…he was doomed. Despairingly, he leaned forward and began removing her coat. It made him feel even worse that she didn't put up any kind of struggle. She didn't have the strength to push him away, but he hoped she would at least make some verbal protest. But she just sat there smiling at him. _Gods! She's pretty._ Percy squeezed his eyes closed and shook his head quickly to dispel those thoughts. They led someplace he didn't want to go, not now anyway. His hair fell over in front of his face as he bent his head resolutely towards the floor. Keeping his eyes shut, he moved to remove her boots. He felt a light touch at his brow that startled his eyes open again.

"Where'd you get the white streak? It's cute." Of all the things she could be saying to someone who was forcibly removing her clothes, she chose this?

"Reyna, you know I can't remember anything before we met."

"I like being the first girl you ever met." She seemed dead set on making this the most awkward experience of his life. True, he couldn't remember anything before five days ago, but it was hard to imagine anything more uncomfortable than this. The worst part was though her hypothermia was causing this uninhibited state, everything she said was truly how she felt. It was almost enough to make him stop, but one look at her drooping eyelids and slackening jaw mustered his determination.

He finished with her boots but decided to leave her socks on. He couldn't recall whether he had any snuggling experience, but it didn't seem likely that he would have much useful contact with her feet. Besides, feet were gross. She was almost unconscious now, but he noticed a slight tremor returning to her body. He took it as a good sign that simply being in a warmer spot was helping. He steeled himself and reached up to remove her shirt. As she was mostly dead weight at this point, the task took a lot more effort than he would have liked. After quite a bit of shoving and pulling, she finally took some notice and lifted her arms slightly so he could pull the shirt over her head.

He did his best to keep his eyes focused on the task at hand. He didn't dare close them now for fear of fumbling his hands somewhere they shouldn't go. Despite his best efforts, Percy was still 16 and curiosity got the better of him once or twice. He said a silent prayer that Reyna was a no nonsense kind of girl. It led to sensible choices where others might have tended toward the flamboyant. Her selection of a non-lacey, full coverage bra made it somewhat easier to proceed. His daydreams from earlier had been much more…exciting. As he moved to unbutton her jeans, she finally took notice of what was actually happening.

"No, stop." Her voice was incredibly weak and still a bit foggy. She opened her eyes and fixed him with a pleading stare that nearly broke his resolve.

"Reyna, I'm sorry. I have to. You saved us earlier, with the water. Now it's my turn." As he spoke, his feelings of awkwardness began to subside. This wasn't a vile act he was committing. He was saving her life, why should that be uncomfortable?

"Not like this. Not yet." She obviously was still confused as to what Percy's motives were, but his conviction was now unshakeable, or so he thought.

"Reyna, this isn't—"

"Call me Rey." From somewhere, she managed to find the strength to place her hands on either side of Percy's face and pull him forward into a firm kiss. She held him there for what could have been seconds or hours. He was glad he wasn't standing; his knees surely would have buckled. His mind held no memories of ever having kissed a girl, but his mouth certainly seemed to know the feeling…and liked it. Almost enough to not notice the intense burning on his arm. Just as it had in the infirmary, the brand he'd received in initiation was making its presence known as his feelings for Reyna swelled. The pain only seemed to intensify the pleasure of the kiss, but just as his arms were beginning to rise to embrace her, he felt her pulling away. She still had his face in her hands as she broke the kiss and looked into his wide open eyes. He saw tears glistening in her eyelashes, threatening to roll free down her cheeks.

"Thanks," she managed thickly before her eyes rolled back in her head as she lost consciousness completely. Despite the drastic turn in her condition, it still took Percy several deep breaths before he was able to take action. Finally his mind cleared enough for him to check her vitals. Her pulse was weak and her breath quick and shallow, but she was still alive, thank the gods. But there was no time to lose. He managed with some more embarrassing difficulties to remove her jeans. He decided there was no need to go further. If he couldn't warm her up through her underwear, it wasn't going to work without them either. He picked her up, and again with some serious pushing and prodding, got her into the sleeping bag. Removing his own clothing took considerably less time and effort and soon he was down to his own skivvies and gingerly crawling into the cocoon-style bag behind her.

He winced as he felt how cold her body was. He didn't know from where his earlier delusions that this might be an enjoyable experience had arisen. Wrapping his arms around her was like embracing an ice sculpture. Now that he was inside her personal space, he noticed that her bra, though sensible, was fairly tight around her chest. Based on how cold she was, she needed all the unimpeded blood flow she could get. He was glad they were already inside the sleeping bag where he couldn't see anything as he shifted positions to be able to unhook the clasp. While his body might have remembered how to kiss, Percy could tell right away that he'd never gotten to the point of removing this particular article of clothing from anyone before.

_Son of a bitch, is it super glued together?_ The poor girl was going to have bruises when she woke up considering how much pulling and grunting he performed before the bra finally unclasped. In the end Percy was thankful for two things. First, Reyna was still unconscious and hadn't witnessed any of his ineptitude. Deftness in this endeavor was a mark of pride for teenage boys, and 'deft' was about as far from describing his efforts as the English language allowed. Second, Bobby still hadn't arrived from his trek down the mountain with the lame unicorn. Considering the overzealous noises emanating from the tent, some wildly inaccurate assumptions could have been made.

_Don't worry, Sea Child. I will keep your secret safe._

"Shit, Ali! There's no secret to keep. We weren't doing anything, you know…untoward." Percy couldn't believe he forgot the unicorn was still hanging around the tent.

_Of course not._ He didn't have a clear direct line to her thoughts like Bobby did, but she was definitely laughing at him.

"Go find Bobby and help them find us," he directed her.

_As you wish. How slowly should we return?_ Unicorns were too smart for their own good.

"Just go get them; we'll be safe until you get back."

_I have no worries about _your_ safety, Sea Child,_ she smirked sarcastically as he heard her begin to walk off in the direction they had arrived. He shifted again to wrap his arms around Reyna in a spooning position. He figured he might as well put the heat of his embarrassment to good use. Distinctly avoiding her now loosened bra, he began rubbing her arms trying to generate more warmth. He almost wept when she began shivering in earnest again. Stopping his efforts at frictional heating, he let himself be a passive heat source as her body did the active work on instinct.

She shook for hours. Percy silently cursed himself at one point for not providing them with pillows. It was already dusk and his neck was screaming in pain. Reyna had to be ten times worse with all the violent jerking her body was putting her through. He took advantage of a brief moment of stillness to reach for some of their clothing to place under their heads. He wadded up his sweater for himself and was forming Reyna's coat into some semblance of a cushion for her when she decided to make her own pillow.

On the one hand, Percy was elated when she groaned indicating she was no longer unconscious, but she also took the opportunity to roll over to face him. Under normal circumstances, having a girl like Reyna draping herself across him would have thrilled Percy. But this was supposed to be business, and he was blissfully aware that her shifting had completely displaced her bra. It was now sitting up somewhere around her neck leaving her entire torso flush against his bare chest. He was beginning to wonder if he would ever be able to breathe again when her shivering returned.

He was ashamed to admit he was relieved when she started shaking. It brought his mind back into focus on how desperate her situation was. He smiled ruefully as he wrapped his arms around her again and rubbed her back. It looked like they were going to be in this fight all night, and if he didn't wake up first in the morning, that knee wedged so pleasantly between his own legs would likely make itself very _un_pleasant.

A few minutes later, Percy finally heard the steps of a unicorn approaching. He'd been wondering what was taking them so long and making various plans to render a certain female animal hornless. Reyna's trembling was distracting, but he only seemed to hear one set of hoof beats. Where were the others? The footsteps stopped outside the tent, and Percy heard a soft thud as Bobby dismounted. He rustled the side of the tent to announce his presence.

"Is it safe?" There was far too much amusement in Bobby's voice to dispel Percy's thirst for severed unicorn horn.

"I'm gonna kill that mule," he sighed. "Yes, we're all covered up." The tent flap lifted to reveal Bobby's broadly smiling face shining through the fading daylight. Percy saw him taking in the wreckage of the discarded clothing and upended contents of his pack.

"Chicken," Bobby admonished with a smirk.

"Excuse me?"

"I, uh, don't see any underwear in this mess. So I say again…Chicken." Percy scowled in response, extremely thankful the sleeping bag covered all evidence of the true state of Reyna's undergarments. Bobby laughed openly at Percy's obvious discomfiture. "I'm just kidding, dude. She's still cold I see, but at least she's shivering again. At least I _hope_ that's shivering under there." Percy's scowl continued unabated. "Alright, alright, relax there, Sport. I'm just teasing. Better you in there than me as far as I'm concerned. I'd like to keep all my parts in working order. I came to let you know, Phoenix and Starbuck are in a cave about a mile further down the mountain. I'm gonna leave Ali here with you while I go back and see what I can do to get Phoenix back to normal. Ali will bring you there in the morning."

"Um, you don't need to leave her here. I think she's done enough damage already."

_I have no idea what you mean_, Ali interjected innocently.

"Yeah, I just bet you don't."

"Sorry, but you guys are a little too, um, vulnerable to leave alone out here. She's here to stand guard against threats both foreign _and_ domestic," Bobby insinuated with an exaggerated wink. Percy reached blindly behind himself and found one of his shoes. Bobby ducked quickly out of the way with a bark of laughter as the shoe sailed out the tent door right where his head had just been. "Seriously though, Percy, keep her warm. It's still pretty damned cold out here and she's not out of the woods yet. If she wakes up, try to get some water and food into her. She's burning up a lot of calories with all that shivering and she'll need to refuel."

"Can't we just give her some nectar or ambrosia and be done with it?" Bobby had all their stores in his pack, or Percy would have tried that first.

"It doesn't really work all that well actually. Hypothermia isn't really an injury, and the amount she would need warm her blood enough would probably cause more harm than good. Plus, we don't have that much, and we have a long way to go still. Why waste it when we have safe and effective mortal remedies?"

"I could think of a few reasons."

"Dude, are you sure you're a guy?" Bobby shook his head in bewilderment as he questioned Percy's manhood.

"I assure you, my hormones are working just fine."

"Then just enjoy your duty while you can because those hormones may be drastically weakened when she wakes up."

"Just go if you're leaving. The peanut gallery is closed." Percy burrowed back down into the sleeping bag and pulled Reyna close. She subconsciously tightened her own grip though she continued shivering.

"Hypocrite," Bobby jibed with a smile as he rose to walk back to his cave. "Remember about the food and water, and I'll see you in the morning." Percy heard his footsteps crunching off through snow, pausing briefly to address Ali. "Keep them safe."

_Not to worry, Master B._ Bobby sighed and trudged away until Percy could no longer hear his heavy steps. He lay in silence listening to Reyna's shallow, broken breathing, her exhalations eerily chill on his chest. With her draped so closely across him he began to pick out the pattern of her convulsions. They would start as small, rapid vibrations deep in her stomach and spread throughout her body, gradually growing in strength until her entire frame convulsed violently. It was worst when her head began to shake, her expelling breath involuntarily activating her vocal chords to create soft broken whimpers. He knew it wasn't an active expression on her part, but each time it happened, Percy felt compelled to stroke her hair and whisper comforting shushes.

"P-p-percy, h-h-h-help-p." Reyna's sudden words startled Percy out of his reverie that had quickly been morphing into sleep. She began moving her free arm in a kind of chicken wing motion that completely baffled him. The tremors overtook her again before she completed whatever task she was trying to accomplish. "B-bra chok-k-king, off-f-f-f. He-help." Every time he thought he'd reached the pinnacle of awkwardness, fate swooped in to smack him in the face with more.

_Well, what the hell at this point, right?_ He didn't waste time waffling as he reached to her shoulder to find the first strap to be removed. It helped that Reyna was at least partially awake to help. She managed to extricate her arm easily enough with Percy holding the strap steady. She had to raise herself up to remove the bra completely, a process which took three tries before she didn't drop back to his chest in convulsions. Every second away from his body heat seemed to cause her torture. Eventually, she was successful and threw the bra away across the tent before clinging tightly to him once again.

"Reyna—" He winced as she pinched him. "Rey, can you eat something?" She deliberately shook her head through the spasms that were wracking her body. "Well, at least have some water, you need something." There was a slight pause before she nodded. It took some stretching, but Percy managed to reach his canteen. He unscrewed the cap and guided it to her mouth. He was proud to say, most of the water actually stayed there. He winced a few times as dribbles of the icy cold liquid contacted his bare chest. He didn't let her drink too much. The water was cold and he didn't want her to have to get up to pee. She didn't protest when he took the canteen away and recapped it, instead she resumed her firm hold on him.

"P-p-percy, I'm s-s-s-sorry," she stammered after a few moments. _She_ was sorry? He was the one who'd stripped her while she was unconscious and forced her into a sleeping bag with him mostly naked. He should be the one begging forgiveness.

"You have nothing to apologize for." But she was already unaware again, whether asleep or focused inward on the paroxysms that were consuming her, she had lost her outward consciousness. He figured it wad useless to try to discuss anything with her in this state anyway, so he returned his attention to the rhythm of her spasms. Attuning his own awareness to their rise and fall, he began drifting into his own semblance of sleep. The first few hours of the night were riddled with interruptions as Reyna would occasionally jerk unexpectedly. But as the night wore on, her shivering subsided, and she began to produce her own heat. The increased warmth and pleasing touch of Reyna's skin across his body served as a perfect sleep aide, and he drifted off into a deep dreamless slumber.

The morning sunlight drifted lazily through the partially open tent flap as Percy regained awareness. He could still feel Reyna cuddled against him, blessedly warm, and there was no pain emanating from his groin, so he must have awoken first. He opened his eyes to discover he was wrong. Reyna was propped with her arms crossed over his chest on which her chin rested. She was staring at him with a strange mixture of gratitude, embarrassment and that same strange triumphant expression he remembered from the infirmary. He was shocked to see her deep sapphire eyes regarding him with softness rather than the steel they were expertly capable of.

"I think I'm starting to like waking up in your arms," she began coyly, "though my current state of dress leaves something to be desired." Her voice hardened, but not dangerously so. Was he actually going to get out of this intact? Regardless, he figured some frantically apologetic explanations were in order.

"Reyna, I—" The steel made its appearance in her eyes at last.

"I _told_ you—"

"Sorry, sorry." He held up his free hand in apology. "I didn't think you remembered anything from last night. And why is it so important anyway? You almost cut my head off the last time I called you Rey."

"It just is, ok? All my friends call me Rey, and it just wouldn't seem right if you didn't. You know, seeing as, well…you know." Her eyes averted coquettishly and her cheeks flushed, actually her whole body flushed, and it sent a tingle down his spine. Percy was beginning to think he wasn't getting out of this night unscathed after all.

"Um, I know what?" The brand on his forearm began aching again as she turn back to look in his eyes.

"Percy, y-you're the first boy I've ever kissed." After all she'd been through, Percy couldn't have imagined she'd never kissed anyone. Her officer initiation ritual took on a whole new level of atrocity in his mind. He reached up to cup her face in free hand as the tear that had been growing finally trickled down her cheek. He smoothed it away with his thumb as she closed her eyes and leaned her head into his touch.

"Rey, I'm so sorry…for all of this. For—" She shook her head, stilling him into silence.

"No Percy this situation is my fault, but other than keeping you awake all night, I can't say I'm really sorry for it." She opened her eyes and moved forward deliberately—generating all sorts of interesting sensations—and met his lips with her own. This was a completely different kiss from the forceful lip war of the previous afternoon. It was soft and slow, filled with all of her feelings of gratitude and attraction. If he were forced to choose, Percy would have taken this kiss by a landslide. For one, he was much less shocked by it, and with Reyna's mind unfogged, the feelings were deliberate rather than desperate. This time he was disappointed when she pulled away. "Thank you for saving my life," she whispered softly. "Now, go get dressed, and get out." Her tone was playful rather than malicious.

"Ugh, Percy, you made a serious mess in here!" He was standing outside the tent staring down Ali, who was heartlessly snorting her laughter at him. Reyna walked out of the tent fully dressed and brushing the tangles out of her long hair. "Hurry and get everything packed up. We have a long way to go still." It took him about a half hour to fit everything back in his pack. They tore down the tent, strapped it to the bottom of the bag and turned toward Ali who was still in the throws of mirth.

"You know what? It's only a mile or so. Let's walk," Percy suggested sardonically. Reyna looked quizzically between him and the quivering unicorn for a moment then shrugged.

"Whatever, it's a nice morning. Let's go, Bobby's got most of the food, and I'm starving." Percy turned back to Ali and told her to lead the way. They began walking down the mountain through the brilliant morning sunlight, Percy's mind drifting inevitably back to replay the events of the night on constant repeat with growing romanticism each time. He must have been smiling stupidly after a while because the punch Reyna landed on his arm nearly knocked him off his feet. "Keep it clean up there." He gave her an innocently hurt expression as he massaged his arm. She laughed and slipped her hand comfortably into his as they continued their trek in pleasant silence.


	18. Chapter 18 Bobby

**A/N: So now it's shameless plug time. If any of you are like me (i.e. a dirty old man in training), the previous chapter may have left you feeling…unfulfilled. So I decided to write a one-shot story called "Warm Me Up" that revisits the events of chapter 17 in a much more adult fashion. It's rated M and is very smutty, and if you're into that, I'd love to know what you think of it. If lemons offend you or just aren't your thing, that story is not for you, and that's totally cool. But if you feel like it, check it out and leave a comment. If you don't want to read it, no worries, it has absolutely no bearing on the direction of this story.**

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_Chapter 18_

_Bobby_

The morning air was sharp as the bright sunlight tried unsuccessfully to warm the brisk mountain chill. The strong promise the bright dawn suggested seemed completely at odds with Bobby's mood. He supposed he should have been happy or at least relieved. A good portion of the night had been spent rubbing down Phoenix to restore life to her weary limbs. By midnight she'd been able to stand steady, though it took the blazing fire he'd built in the cave the rest of the night to warm her up to traveling strength. The fire had been a risk in the enclosed space, but the cave entrance narrowed to a tall shaft, and with careful placement, the fire had used it as a natural chimney drawing the wood smoke harmlessly outside. Regardless, the fire had turned the cave into a sauna, and Bobby had soaked completely through his clothes with sweat in the first hour. The blessedly cool morning air felt heavenly on his salt crusted skin as he stared off through the woods in the direction from which Percy and Reyna should be arriving. _Fuck, I need a shower_.

The unicorn was safe, he was out of the sweat lodge, and the morning smelled of smooth travel ahead. By all accounts, Bobby should have been elated, but all he felt was nervous and anxious. Something was wrong, but no sign presented itself as to what it might be. He knew better than to discount the feeling, his mother was a prophetic goddess after all. But the lack of information only made him that much more apprehensive. There was also the growing weight of Hazel's life attached to his soul. He hadn't really felt like himself once in the five days since the spell was cast, and the burden was worsening. There were still nine days until the New Year, and Bobby fervently hoped they finished this quest early. He didn't begrudge Hazel his aide, but damn, it was painful.

A cold chill ran up his spine as the mountain air finally succeeded in cooling him off. He sighed and set about the task he'd exited the cave to perform. Setting his camp pot on the ground, he filled it with several handfuls of snow, making sure he picked all the dirt and pine needles out before depositing the frozen sustenance in the cooking pot. When it was slightly over full, he stood and with a brief glance back up the mountain, walked back into the sweltering shelter.

The fire had died down quite a bit through the night, but the coals were still giving off significant amounts of heat. Bobby stoked the fire with a long stick and placed another log across the exposed coals, adding some bark and twigs to build the flame around it. He set the snow filled pot in the coals and watched the ice rapidly melt. Loathe as he was to release more heat into the cave, he figured Reyna would be ravenous when she finally showed up, and hot food was always good on a cold morning. Bobby had told Percy to feed her, but he was enough of a realist to assume Percy hadn't had any such success. And besides, those Fritos he had wouldn't do much good for her.

As the fire took hold again, Bobby rummaged through his pack looking for something worth cooking. He eventually settled on some powdered eggs and a can of spam. _Breakfast of champions_. The water was close to boiling by then, so he measured out approximately how many eggs the water called for and added them to the pot to swell. It wasn't the most appetizing of foods, but if they looked like eggs and tasted like eggs, they must be eggs, right? Shaking his head, he turned to find his aluminum camping pan to fry up the spam. Thinking too much about spam was a recipe for an empty stomach, so he always just focused on the fact that it smelled like bacon while it cooked and tasted like salted ham when it was done. He didn't like to think there might not actually be any real pork in the stuff. With gusto, he cracked open the tin and emptied the contents into his pan with satisfying squelch. He pulled out one of his daggers and deftly sliced the mystery meat into thin rectangular strips before sliding the pan onto the coals.

_Ugh! What is that horrid smell, Lord?_ Starbuck walked towards the fire to get a better look while snuffing his nostrils, trying to drive the smell of the frying spam away.

"Don't ask," Bobby replied with a chuckle he didn't feel. He turned back to his food stores and found a couple of apples that hadn't gone too soft yet. "Here, one for each of you until we can find more food for you."

_Thank you, Lord. You will not mind if we take our morning meal outside?_

"Suit yourself, but if Phoenix starts feeling cold, get her back in here."

_As you wish._ Phoenix walked over and took the proffered apple from Bobby's hand without a thought and walked out of the cave ahead of Starbuck. He was glad to see her gait was strong and steady. Turning back to the fire, he found the eggs were nearly fluffed to completion, and he moved the pot gingerly to the outer edge of the fire where they could stay warm until the others arrived. He flipped the spam so the other side could crisp as well. Technically there was no need to cook spam, another fact Bobby didn't really like to think about, but frying it gave it a texture that was at least palatable. It was almost done, when Starbuck reappeared in the mouth of the cave.

_The girls are approaching, Lord._ Bobby knew a moment of panic.

"What about Percy? Where is he?"

_She also approaches._ Bobby was feeling a little slow that morning, but this one didn't slip past him.

"Very funny," he replied flatly. "If you really don't like him, why did you agree to carry him?"

_I would not send my wife on this fools' errand alone, Lord._ That had been an interesting revelation. Starbuck and Phoenix had not shown any kind of affection towards each other until the battle yesterday. In fact, Bobby couldn't remember them even speaking to each other.

"Maybe you should switch riders today. If Reyna's burden is so heavy, you might be able to handle it better." Bobby's suggestion was met with a snuffle and head shake.

_I think that may not be a problem, considering…_ His thought trailed off ominously. Bobby had only known these beasts for a day, but they didn't seem to be creatures who were easily fazed and without words. Quickly, he moved the pan over next to the eggs and rose to meet Percy, Reyna and Ali. As he exited the cave, he noticed two things, one amusing, the other horrifying. Ok, so maybe disturbing was a better description than 'horrifying', but it certainly confirmed Bobby's suspicions that something wasn't quite right this morning. The funny thing was that all three of them were walking. Percy and Ali were beginning to have personality clashes that were comically predictable. They were too much alike to get along, and it was beginning to manifest. Bobby didn't sense any true hostility, just an Odd Couple kind of scenario. It made him smile until he saw Reyna and Percy walking down the hill hand in hand.

_I tried, Master B._ Bobby had specifically told her to keep those two honest, a task at which she had obviously failed miserably.

_Bullshit_, he threw his thought back at her.

_What the world needs now, is love, sweet love_. He didn't know how a unicorn knew any Burt Bacharach tunes—or how he did for that matter—but as she sang into his mind, Bobby began to see Ali from Percy's point of view. She could be seriously fucking snarky when she wanted to be. He didn't have a problem with love. He was cool with all the sunshine and rainbows and crap, but now was not the time, especially for those two. He had no doubts this was Reyna's doing, and Percy was just along for the ride. Bobby knew he liked her, but Percy had also shown flashes of insight that made Bobby wonder how he could let this happen. Reyna was in no position emotionally for this, not to mention the prophecy. He sighed; why did he always get stuck in the middle of this shit?

"Oh my gods, that smells really good." As predicted, Reyna rushed forward at the smell of breakfast warming on the fire. "I'm starving!"

"Food's on the fire inside, help yourself." Bobby really did try to keep the concern out of his voice. Reyna didn't seem to notice as she raced inside to gorge herself on eggs and spam, but Percy stopped short with a worried expression.

"So, um, what's for breakfast?" Percy's voice cracked a bit through his effort to keep the mood light. There was nothing for it now as Bobby leveled what he hoped was a menacing stare on the village idiot.

"What the hell happened last night?" Bobby queried slowly, keeping his voice soft enough not to carry into the cave. Percy adopted his best deer in headlights stance.

"Uh, I-uh, w-what do you mean?" His eyes darted back and forth searching for some outlet Bobby was highly disinclined to offer him.

"Don't fuck with me, Percy. You had one task, save her life. It wasn't even hard to do. You didn't have to fight any monsters or perform any acrobatics, just share some body heat—"

"And I did that. And you have no _idea_ how hard it was." Percy's ire was visibly rising. "I would gladly have fought a dozen monsters or jumped off a 100 foot cliff than go through last night again. It was the most gods-awfully awkward night of my life, no thanks to you and My Little Pony over there."

"Yeah, I'm sure it was sooo uncomfortable for you. She certainly looks warm enough to me now." Bobby was angry, but he couldn't really point to why he was taking it out on Percy. None of this was really his fault. Reyna made a desperate swipe at whatever she could find for support, and Percy just happened to be the closest branch. Not to take anything away from the guy, Bobby was sure he had many fine qualities hidden away somewhere. But right now, he was in a position to do much more harm than good for one of his best friends.

"What are you trying to say?" Percy responded ominously.

"I told you. I told you not to encourage her feelings for you. I told you even _before _her breakdown. Why doesn't anyone ever fucking listen to me? Am I speaking Swahili? Jesus!" Percy's expression hardened as he advanced on Bobby.

"If you wanted to cockblock me, why'd you force me into that situation in the first place? You could have let _me_ stay with Phoenix and Starbuck. Why did you make jokes and tell me to 'enjoy myself'? You're such a fucking hypocrite. You two have known each other for years! It might have been awkward for you, but it would have stayed all business. But you obviously care about your animals more than your friends, so you can just keep your fucking holier-than-thou attitude to yourself."

"Cockblock you?" Bobby replied incredulously. "I'm trying to save your fucking life, asshole. All of our lives. Hold out your arm, let me see your brand." Percy huffed for a moment, before he stuck out his right arm and rolled up the sleeve of his sweater. As Bobby had expected, his arm was a mess of angry red welts spelling out the letters SPQR in starkly defined detail. They still weren't as deeply scarred as his own, but they were certainly a lot worse than they had been two nights ago when he'd last seen them. Bobby shook his head with a derisive sneer. "You have no clue what's happening to you, do you? Well, I know my history, and I have a pretty good idea."

"Oh, yeah? Well lay it on me, oh wise one, 'cause I'd love to hear your shitty ass theory."

"Why the fuck should I tell you? You won't listen to me anyway. Well, I hope she was good because—" Bobby really should have expected the fist that laid him out just then. As it was, the stars cleared from his eyes a moment later finding him looking up towards a sky blocked mostly by Percy's angry face. Bobby's jaw was still in shock, but he knew it was going to swell dramatically over the rest of the day. He did a quick check to make sure he had all his teeth before he met Percy's eyes. They were seething green fire as the muscles in his neck twitched with the strength of his clenched teeth.

"How dare you! You're the only friend she has left from her home and you call her a whore in so many words? Just stay the fuck out of our business." Percy stormed off toward the cave leaving Bobby to stare at the sky and ponder his persuasive ineptitude. He couldn't really say he wasn't looking for a fight when he confronted Percy; he'd kind of gone out of his way to rile things up. But he certainly hadn't intended to start a war. Truth be told, the whole thing was pretty selfish. He was frustrated at a perceived lack of respect. It was a problem that had been growing steadily throughout his time in the Army. No one ever seemed to take heed of his opinions, not even his close friends. Only Hazel had ever really seemed to pay him any attention. His hopes that he would at least have the ears of his companions on this quest were turning out to be completely unfounded. Worse, they seemed to be taking his advice and throwing right back in his face. He sighed, _Well, if they want to destroy the world, so fucking be it._

Bracing himself against the vertigo, he shut his eyes and sat up. The world only spun for a few seconds, a lot better than he would have anticipated. Being a cantankerous loner didn't make Bobby the easiest person to get along with, so he knew from copious experience the repercussions of a punch to the jaw. When his brain was finished swimming, he opened his eyes and found a handful of snow to pad his aching face. Figuring it probably wasn't in his best interest to enter the cave at the moment, Bobby rose and went to join the unicorns. They were busy rummaging through the snowy forest floor looking for something edible.

"How are you feeling?" Bobby asked, placing a hand on Phoenix' coppery coat.

_Better than you, Lord._

"Yeah, no shit. I definitely could have handled that better." Rubbing his jaw, he realized the pain made him feel alive again. The revelation of his mother's identity was taking time to assimilate, and Bobby had been living in a bit of a fog for the last day and a half. There's a silver lining to everything, he supposed.

_You were correct though._ Phoenix' thought pulled him back to reality. Instantly his anger flared as he stared daggers into the cave mouth.

"You mean they did…you know—?" A hand moved involuntarily to his hip reaching for one of his daggers. He was going to kill that giggly fucktard.

_No, Master B,_ Ali interjected quickly before Bobby could get his murder on. _Nothing indiscreet occurred. Just a kiss or two_. Being informed of a half-naked snog unfortunately did not produce much of a calming effect on Bobby's temper. Well, he knew _something_ had to have happened for them to come leisurely strolling in here hand-in-hand this morning, but having it laid out in plain terms was almost too much.

"Who kissed who?" Bobby asked though he already knew the answer.

_Lord, that is beside the point. You—_

"Answer me, Ali," Bobby interrupted Phoenix. The unicorns stared at this unknown person before them with a mixture of fright and disappointment.

_You already know, Master. The sea child is many things, but he is not presumptuous enough to take advantage of an ailing girl._ Confirmation of his suspicions morphed Bobby's anger into despair. This could only end badly.

_Yes, Lord. As I said, you were correct about the girl_, Phoenix repeated._ I have carried her, and the burden of her guilt is too heavy for any but her to bear, yet the sea child will attempt to take it. She began to confront her shame, and she must continue to do so before she can truly be happy. She believes her feelings for the boy can heal her, but in truth, she is using him to bury her guilt deeper. It will not work, she loathes herself, and there can be no love amidst that hate. There is much danger in this._

"Tell me something I don't know." The dagger dropped harmlessly to the ground as he buried his face in his hands.

_You must confront her, Master B_, Ali continued. _She will not love you for this._

"Oh, you think?" He had visions of all the horrible spells she could fling at him. _I wonder what it's like to be a tree stump? _Then another thought occurred to him. "How am I going to get her away from Percy long enough to talk to her? I'm kind of on his shit-list right now." The worst part was, as annoying and frivolous as he was, Percy would have no trouble wiping the floor with Bobby if it came down to a fight. It was a hard thing to admit, that he was the weakest link.

_No Lord, you are not the weakest, _Starbuck chimed in for the first time. _They are but two, and we are four._ _I will take care of removing the sea spawn._


	19. Chapter 19 Bobby

_Chapter 19_

_Bobby_

To say the mood was tense as the troop mounted up for the morning leg of their travel would have been quite an understatement. Bobby wasn't sure what Percy had said to Reyna, but she was stony-faced as they washed and packed up the cooking supplies and threw snow on the fire. For his part, Bobby took the smartest course of action and set about his chores in silence. There was no need to provoke anyone's ire just yet. As he'd expected, Percy hovered protectively around Reyna, occasionally gracing Bobby with a withering stare. The potential repercussions of what was about to happen dropped the bottom out of Bobby's stomach with nerves.

"Alright, let's go," Bobby broke the stalemate that had grown now that they were finished packing. Percy and Reyna were deliberately trying to goad him into another row by standing there staring at him with their hands firmly clasped together. Well, he wasn't about to take the bait. His jaw was already about twice its normal size thanks to Percy's right hook. He didn't need another one on top of his anticipation. Deliberately turning his back on them, Bobby walked to Ali and mounted up.

They didn't wait for Reyna and Percy before starting down the mountain to find another route towards Yellowstone. Their original path was out of the question as it seemingly led them straight through the Abarimon valley. Ali was walking rather slowly so the others could catch up when the lovebirds finally swallowed their pride and followed. There was no fear that they would run off in a different direction. Phoenix and Starbuck were on his side. Phoenix needed Reyna to face her issues, or they would kill them both before the end of this quest, and Starbuck just didn't like Percy. He wouldn't follow Percy's direction if his species depended on it, which ironically, it did.

Soon enough, Bobby heard the other two unicorns approaching. At a silent signal, all three shot off through the forest to the southeast to skirt around the edge of the valley. The morning was still chilly and the wind whipping at their faces precluded any conversation. Even without the gale, they would have ridden in silence. It wasn't long before the Abarimon valley was miles behind them. Phoenix didn't seem to be having the same troubles she'd had carrying Reyna yesterday, and they were able to set a much faster pace.

Bobby wasn't sure exactly what Starbuck had planned or when he was going to execute his action. His only hope was that it didn't involve maiming of any sort. All three unicorns had taken caution to guard their thoughts, altering them so only Bobby could understand when they did need to say something, which wasn't often. The height of the mountains began to grow as they approached the Great Divide, and it became more difficult to maintain a low altitude. The higher they were forced to go, the colder it got, and the snow grew deep. The unicorns were nimble creatures, but even they would sink through the crusted surface of the snow from time to time. Starbuck's plan began to dawn on Bobby as he seemed to fall through the snow more and more often. It didn't take Bobby long to realize the onyx unicorn was slowing down purposefully.

After nearly an hour of this tactic, Bobby and Reyna were well ahead of Percy. Ali and Phoenix had also been trudging a bit heavier than what was strictly necessary to give the impression that they were all struggling with the deep snow. Starbuck, being bigger and heavier was supposedly just having a harder time than they were. As the two females ducked around an outcropping of rock, Percy and Starbuck disappeared completely from view.

_Now_, Ali instructed, and the two unicorns shot off through the mountainous terrain as though they were running on top of the snow rather than through it. A cry of protests issued from Reyna as she discovered their deception, but she was essentially powerless to stop it. They ran unchecked for another half hour, putting as much distance between them and Starbuck as they dared. As they entered a small ravine, Ali and Phoenix slowed and came to a stop in a small clearing, hoping to soak up some warmth from the sun as they waited for Bobby to confront his friend.

"Why are you doing this, Bobby?" There was no plea in Reyna's voice, only steel.

"Because you need to hear the truth."

"And you had to kidnap me to do it? While Percy flounders back there with a dangerous animal that doesn't like him?" She gestured furiously in the direction they had come while Bobby desperately hoped her fears weren't grounded. He couldn't let his own worries regarding Percy and Starbuck interfere, however.

"If that's what it takes for someone to finally listen to me, then yes. Unfortunately, I can't control what you do with what I have to tell you, but damn it you _are_ going to hear me out." Reyna set her jaw stubbornly at this proclamation, her eyes flashing blue lightning. "First, I owe you an apology."

"Ya think so, do you?"

"Yes, I do. I don't know what Percy told you, but I made some insinuations this morning that were far from fair, especially considering recent events." Apologies had never been Bobby's strong suit. He usually just took a punch or two and assumed whatever the matter was resolved. That wouldn't work with Reyna, not this time anyway.

"They aren't recent events. To me, they're ancient history." And here was the crux of the problem. She was trying to throw away the problem rather than fix it.

"No, Rey, they aren't. You proved that two days ago, and one night of sharing…whatever it was with a boy you like doesn't make you all better."

"Don't you fucking patronize me, Bobby. You have no idea what I've been through." Acid dripped from Reyna's voice as she berated him.

"You're right, I don't," Bobby surrendered, "but neither does Percy. But just because we can't possibly understand, doesn't mean we can't help."

"Then what is your damned problem with Percy and me? Why can't you just let me be happy? Haven't I suffered enough? Don't I deserve it? Huh?"

"A relationship isn't just about YOU, Rey!" He practically had to scream over her supplications.

"Oh, this is just perfect. Now, I'm getting dating advice from beast boy. You spend so much time with your damned animals you can't even see a great girl throwing herself at you night and day. How can—"

"This isn't about me, Rey," Bobby interrupted her, softly cutting through her tirade. "I know _my_ mistakes. I don't deserve a girl like Hazel, but I promise you, when we heal her, I will do everything in my power to make my pigheadedness up to her. She's the reason I'm here begging you to hear me out. I can't stand the thought of her not making it through this. I don't care about me, but I'll be damned if I'll let your selfishness destroy her too."

"My selfishness?" she exclaimed incredulously.

"Yes. I know you're hurt and I know you have experiences in your past I'll never fathom, but there is a right and wrong way to deal with them. And this thing with Percy is definitely the wrong way, for so many reasons."

"Oh, well don't let me stop you. Please show me the error of my ways, Dr. Phil." A deaf man couldn't have missed her sarcasm, but Bobby took his shot.

"Fine, let's start with the obvious: the prophecy."

"What about the fucking prophecy?" Reyna was too smart not to grasp his thought process, she was just being obstinate now. Bobby gave her an admonishing look.

"I told Percy before we left the Army not to encourage your feelings." He held up a hand to block her protests. "You know as well as I do what that final warning means. Or at least you know it's talking about you." She crossed her arms stubbornly across her chest and looked away. "You speak Latin just as well as the rest of us. Canis is you." The cartoonish look of indignation she threw at him was nearly enough to make him laugh.

"Are you calling me a dog?" Her voice rose several octaves at the perceived insult.

"Yes, actually, I am. Pull you head out of your ass and think for one second, Rey!" She'd begun seething menacingly, and he didn't have to use much imagination to see her mind racing through various torturous spells to fling at him. "Who is your mother? What is her symbol?"

"She's got a lot of fucking symbols," she responded through gritted teeth.

"Yeah, and dogs are a big one. Come on, Rey, you've known since the moment Sam spoke it, that last warning was for you. But you don't seem to give a rat's ass do you? You just do what makes you feel better, what makes you happy. What about Percy, huh? What about Hazel and Roulette? Because let me tell you, you keep this affair going and we're all going down."

"You don't know that, Bobby!" she retorted. "You don't know any more than I do what the last line meant. What curse? Whose fall? It doesn't make any sense."

"Doesn't it? Well, I guess you wouldn't see it, being so focused on yourself." Bobby needed a change of attack. Her stubbornness wasn't letting her think clearly about the prophecy, not that anyone ever did. Anytime a prophecy was given with a line someone didn't like, they tried to change it, only to find they hurled themselves right into its prophetic teeth. It was happening now, but she was too blind to see it. He'd have to enlighten her. "I was wrong you know, encouraging you isn't what I should have warned Percy about. It's _his_ feelings that are the problem. You're irresistible to a guy like him. You're broken and vulnerable, and he thinks he can fix you. Well he's wrong, only you can fix you, and his attempts are going to kill him, and probably the rest of us."

"I am NOT BROKEN!" Reyna spat at him. "There's nothing wrong with me!" She was angry and defensive, but even so she couldn't pull this lie off very well. Her eyes spoke volumes as to how much she understood the falsity of her words. Though her protests had only become more strident, Bobby could see the doubt growing in her.

"You're right about there being nothing wrong with you, but you _are_ broken. Shit, Rey, after that ridiculous ceremony, if you _weren't _emotionally damaged, _then_ there would be something wrong with you."

"Did you ever think Percy might like me for my good qualities?" Doubt there may be, but Reyna had always been a determined girl, and she wasn't giving up without a fight. "Maybe I have something to offer _other _than baggage? I don't know, maybe he only likes my hair or my ass, I don't care! I feel good when he's around, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for my present company."

"Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick! Have you heard _nothing_ I've said?" Bobby remonstrated incredulously. "This is not just about you! Stop for a second and think about Percy! Not about how he makes you feel, you've already made that abundantly clear. Think about what his feelings for you will do to him, _is _doing to him." Finally, she took a moment to think before she responded. It wasn't much, but it was a start.

"What do you mean, 'what it's doing to him'? He seems fine to me, and quite happy to be with me, thank you very much."

"Gods, if you were any more clueless, I'd think you were a guy. Well, let me put the pieces together for you." This argument was going to be a tough sell, mostly because Bobby still wasn't completely sure on it himself, but he forged ahead anyway. "You remember the wound Percy got from Ali? I know you were a bit distracted at the time, but it was an odd injury. I thought at first it was a miracle he hadn't been run completely through, but when Ali told us about the protection his blood gave him and I thought about his initiation battle, it seemed crazy that she was able to wound him at all."

"Any chance you'll be making a point, Bobby?" Reyna interjected flatly.

"You're telling me, you don't think it's at all strange that Percy is practically invulnerable?"

"Ok, yeah, it's kind of unusual I guess. Good for him I suppose, but who really cares?" Reyna's obstinacy was starting to grate his nerves.

"Um, I'm pretty sure Percy does, but that's really beside the point. Rey, think for a second," Bobby urged. "Where does it come from? What is it that gives him that power?"

"I don't fucking know. A spell, or some kind of curse…" Her voice trailed off as she began to come to a realization. "_The curse shall break and bring the fall._ Ok, fine! Suppose you're right, and Percy has some kind of weird curse. Wouldn't he want to get rid of it? Curses usually aren't good for you."

"I'm sure he thought about the ramifications before he took it on," Bobby pressed. He knew it would be more believable if she came to the conclusion herself.

"Wait, Bobby, are you suggesting he intentionally cursed himself? I know Percy's got a unique personality, but he's not stupid. Why the fuck would he do that?"

"Reyna, there's only one curse I know of that fit's Percy's symptoms, and he had to have accepted it willingly to have survived at all." Bobby watched the light turn on in Reyna's face. She started a few times looking for some hole in his logic.

"It couldn't be that, Bobby."

"Why not? Everything fits. Have you ever seen someone as resilient or as skilled? He was a terror in the Forum. Not even Jason could have done what he did."

"But, Bobby," she protested. "He's _not_ invulnerable. They weren't much, but he had injuries from the initiation battle, and you just talked about his brush with Ali's horn. Plus he would have had to have gone to Pluto to receive it. That's not exactly a place you come back from on a whim, certainly not without serious training."

"You don't think he's been trained? Seriously? Idiot he may be, but he's no savant," Bobby insisted. "He came from somewhere, somewhere he got a great deal of training. You've seen his necklace, you know what it means as much as those ignorant fools back at the Army do. Chalk up one more reason your little dalliance is a bad idea."

"But that still doesn't explain how he can get injured!" Reyna protested. "If he really bore the curse of Achilles, he'd only be vulnerable in a single spot. He's been scratched, cut and gored all over his body in the six days we've known him."

"You still don't get it. He _is_ being hit in his vulnerable spot." Bobby was sure of it now, her objections had solidified his theory. There was only one thing missing, but he had no way gain that knowledge. "Think about his serious injuries. What was he doing when they occurred? His brand started reappearing the night—"

"Wait, his brand is reappearing?" How fricking unobservant can a person get?

"Are you serious right now? You just spent a whole night naked and snogging each other, and you didn't see the big-ass welts on his arm in the morning? Wow, bravo Queen Oblivious. Well, just FYI, the brand _is_ resurfacing, and it's gotten worse on two occasions that I've noticed. The first was the morning we found you two snuggling in the infirmary, the second was this morning after whatever happened last night. Both times, his feelings for you were running hot. Then the big injury from Ali, he was protecting you." Confusion splayed across her face as she tried to comprehend something she didn't want to see.

"That doesn't make any sense," she scrambled. "His Achilles spot is just a place on his body that's vulnerable to attack. And he was getting cuts and bruises before he even met me. Sorry Bobby, it was a nice try, but you can't make me believe I'm breaking some curse he doesn't have. He'll be fine, I'll protect him."

"Rey! Don't be obtuse! Just for a moment, suppose I'm right. What would Percy have had to do to obtain Achilles' curse?" He waited for her to respond.

"Fine! On the extremely wild assumption that you're correct, he'd have done the same thing Achilles did. He'd probably have had someone dip him in the Styx and pull him out, like Thetis." Bobby shook his head.

"I don't think so. If he'd picked it up as a baby like Achilles, maybe. But then his sense of invulnerability would be too deeply ingrained for him to not remember it. He doesn't act like he knows he can't be hurt. He picked up the curse recently."

"What difference would it make?" He was going to have to hurry. Her patience was thinning.

"Well, if I remember correctly, the River Styx is supposed to bear the lost hopes and dreams of all mortals. To not be devoured by them, a person dropped into that water would need to have never formed any hopes or dreams of their own or would have to be able to latch their soul to something. Something that keeps them distinctly mortal. So a baby, like Achilles, who had no hopes or dreams could be held to his mortal frame by another person. Someone older, like Percy, would have to go in alone, consciously leaving a part of him attached to the mortal world. That's what his Achilles point is, whatever it is he lives for."

"Well, listen to you Mr. Philosopher," Reyna scoffed. "That still doesn't explain why he gets hurt or why you seem to think I'm the cause of his deterioration."

"I think when Juno took his memories, the curse began to fail," Bobby explained with some uncertainty. He still hadn't figured this part out yet. "But if he truly didn't remember his mortal anchor, I would expect either the curse to be gone completely or his soul to be blasted to oblivion." He looked up to find Reyna biting her lower lip and darting her eyes back and forth nervously. "Wait, Reyna do you know something?"

"Um, well, I don't know, maybe." She told him about this spell she used the previous day to try to see what was attacking them by sifting through their memories. She'd been aiming for Bobby, but apparently hit Percy instead. When she finished, he got the distinct impression she wasn't telling him everything, but her story fit perfectly.

"So he still has all his memories?" She nodded mutely. "Then he must still have a connection to whatever holds him to the world. His decision to turn away from his old life put a crack in the curse, as it were." Reyna was looking resolutely at the ground and she didn't respond. "And I think you know exactly why you're making the problem worse, don't you? His mortal anchor isn't a thing is it? It's a who."

"Bobby, I don't—"

"What else did you see in Percy's head?" She winced at the demand, but complied under his stern glare. She told him about her usurping the image of a girl. A girl Percy obviously cared a great deal about.

"You knew?" Bobby demanded. "You knew he had someone else out there waiting for him, worrying about him, and what? You just weren't going to say anything? You were just going to let him believe he was yours free and clear? I think I was being kind calling you selfish."

"You don't know she's still waiting for him." Her anger flared again. "How do you know she wasn't the reason he decided to turn his back on his life? Or maybe she feels betrayed that he'd choose to just forget about her."

"I see we're still talking about you, not that I'm surprised," Bobby replied dryly. "Regardless, how this girl feels about him doesn't matter. What keeps him alive is how _he_ feels about _her, _and you are destroying that. The only question is what happens when you finally break his bond with her. When the curse breaks will he just go back to being a normal demigod, or will his soul be destroyed? What happens to us if he's obliterated? Think about collateral damage for a second. Obviously Roulette dies; it's your spell, how will that affect your mind? Will it be enough to break the other half of the spell? Are Hazel and I doomed then? And the unicorns? If we're gone, what happens to them? Ask yourself, are you willing to risk it?"

Bobby thought he had her now. He hoped so, because he only had one card left to play, one he never wanted to see the light of day. Reyna stared at him expressionlessly as she sorted out the ramifications of her actions.

"Yes, I am." She spoke so softly, Bobby thought maybe he'd misunderstood, _hoped_ he'd misunderstood. "I'm sorry, Bobby. I know you're disappointed, but I can't help the way I feel. When I'm around him, he makes me feel normal again. I can't give that up." Bobby couldn't believe he was actually hearing this. He'd wanted to avoid this, she wasn't ready, but his back was against the wall.

"Look, Rey, I know you _think_ you like Percy," he began. "And I get it, I do. But you don't even know him. Fuck, _he_ doesn't even know him. All you know is he's powerful and can crack a joke from time to time. They're the same reasons you followed Jason around for so long." He paused, still looking for a different outlet. He knew what needed to be said, but it was a recipe for disaster. Reyna jumped over him in his moment of hesitation.

"Do you really think I'm that shallow? That I'll just hop into bed with any guy who shows some battle prowess and gives me a chuckle? Jesus, Bobby, I thought we were friends."

"No, Rey, I don't think you're shallow. I think you're scared." He was in it now. Hell and high water were on their way.

"Scared of what, exactly?" He still wasn't fortified enough to say it, so he took an indirect tack.

"You're right, we are friends, and I know you a lot better than you think I do. I don't spend all my time thinking about animals, you know. You forget my mother is a goddess of the wild. I know your wild side, the part of you kept hidden at all costs, even from yourself. You gravitate towards powerful people like Jason and Percy, hoping you can hide it in their shadows, but I can see it, and I can't even begin to imagine how much it hurts," he sympathized.

"Bobby, w-what are you talking about?" The anger in her voice was being replaced by wariness. He was picking a scab on a wound she'd fooled most of the world, including herself, into thinking had never existed in the first place. The panic taking over her eyes was completely unbridled. Bobby wished he could give her more time. She should have come to this on her own, but his hands were tied.

"I know, Rey. He didn't fit your mold, but you fell for him anyway. You were young, and it scared you." She was shaking her head, eyes wide, begging him to stop, but if she was willing to throw everyone's lives away so she could play at happiness, he had to be ruthless. "You ran to Jason hoping you could hide with him, like a toddler crouching behind her father's legs. But Jason wasn't blind. He was hopelessly in love with you, you know. Both of them were. But as much as you professed to want him, Jason knew where your heart really lay."

"Stop, please." The tears in her voice were heartbreaking, but Bobby was on a mission now.

"No, not until you fully realize what it is you're doing, what you've been doing for years. You didn't really have feelings for Jason. It would be a pretty poor way to repay them getting together with a complete stranger less than a week after he disappears anyway. But it didn't matter, he was exactly the kind of guy you wanted everyone to think you wanted, and you fooled just about everyone, even me for a while. I can't begin to understand the depths of pain he caused you, but I do understand the horror you inflicted on Dakota in return."

"He RAPED me!" she sobbed.

"And you think you're the only one affected by that?" Bobby retorted. "I'm not trying to trivialize your pain, Rey, but he _loved_ you. Can you imagine how he felt when he learned what he did? That what he'd always wanted had been irrevocably twisted into something horrible? He tried to make it honest, but you rejected him. He may have been a Praetor, but he wasn't a strong leader, he didn't have that power you seemed to want. You turned away the only guy you've ever truly cared for because you were scared of breaking out of your box, because he didn't fit your image."

"No, no if he really loved me, he wouldn't have changed so much," Reyna protested adamantly. "He wouldn't have turned into what he is now."

"Why not? It's what you wanted, or at least that's what you wanted everyone to believe. He tried to reshape himself to your mold of perfection. It's ironic really, the one guy who didn't need to change a thing to win your love, twisting himself into a monster trying to be what you said you wanted."

In truth, Bobby hated himself for this. None of what he said was false, but it was all contrary to what she had tried so hard to make true. That she hadn't fallen for Dakota, that hating him for what he'd done didn't make her life bleaker, that she didn't deep down somewhere still have feelings for him.

"Rey, I know you're not ready to accept this, but you're not ready to move on either. If the possibility of two of your friends dying for your false happiness with Percy doesn't sway you, then your sense of self-preservation should. You need to know you will never be happy until you deal with your feelings for Dakota. That is a burden Percy cannot help you with, not like this." Bobby watched her face grow stricken as the realization sank in.

"You've taken everything from me. EVERYTHING!" she shrieked at him her whole body shaking with a mixture of anger and despair. "Are you happy now! I have nothing."

"Reyna, don't go down this path. You still have me, and Hazel when we cure her, and even Percy, just not the way you want him, please." Reyna's spasms suddenly stopped and resolve returned to her eyes.

"No, no, I won't let it happen like this, not again. You don't get to take anything from me, Bobby. You know what I say to your stupid fucking theories and your gods-damned lies? Fuck. You. If Percy wants me, he gets me, and I'll be fucking happy, damn it. You don't know shit about me! Just leave me the fuck alone!" She reached down to Phoenix' mane and started yanking, trying to get the unicorn to take her away from him.

_Go, _Bobby sent his thought. _She needs to be alone for a while. We'll find you later._ Phoenix didn't respond, but she turned and sped off through the forest carrying Reyna, who was now weeping, out of sight.

"What did you say to her," Percy's flinty voice sprung from nowhere. Bobby was sincerely glad he'd peed recently, otherwise it would have literally scared the piss out of him.

_Thanks for the warning_, Bobby admonished.

_It was more exciting this way, Master B_. Bobby sighed and calmed his nerves before turning to address Percy.

"Just the truth," he replied simply. "Not that she accepted it. Percy—" He paused trying to come up with the right words that would convey all his reservations and worries and fears, but all that came out was, "just be careful, and remember, there might be someone waiting for you whenever you decide to go home."

Percy didn't offer a response, just a stony glare. "Starbuck, follow your wife." The unicorn looked to Bobby for instruction. He nodded, it was inevitable he supposed. Starbuck shook his head and shot off after Phoenix, a flurry of jet.

"Well, I royally fucked that up."

_It was entertaining though._


	20. Chapter 20 Reyna

_Chapter 20_

_Reyna_

Running. The trees flew past her as Phoenix obliged her desperate need to be anywhere other than where Bobby was. She barely noticed the thousand little stings from branches and twigs as they whipped at her face and snagged her hair. She didn't care, their pain was sweet nothingness in comparison. Running. Why was it the more a person knew you, the more they felt the need to hurt you? Percy was perfect, blissfully unaware of who she was and what she'd done. He let her forget, made it easy to maintain the lies. Her life was built on those lies, how could she abandon them? Bobby just didn't understand, and Percy didn't have to, he didn't know they weren't true. Running. Would she ever stop?

Eventually, Phoenix reached some limit Reyna didn't understand and began to slow down. She would have had her go farther, but it didn't really matter. Bobby and his preaching were behind her, and she was determined to keep it that way. Who the fuck was he to presume he understood her? He didn't know anything about people, all he knew were pegasi and unicorns and useless animals. Hazel was in for severe disappointment if she ever woke up. If Reyna had anything to do with it, Bobby would never even so much as speak to Hazel again. She wondered if there was a spell that would make him invisible to her. If he wanted to try so hard to deny Reyna happiness, she'd damned well repay the favor.

The weeping she'd dissolved into as she fled her bared secrets had been replaced by her new resolve. She would have Percy to herself, and she would make Bobby pay. She didn't need his truth, certainly not now. Truth had never done anything but cause her pain, her cocoon of lies had always been more comfortable. The real truth was that it didn't matter what she may or may not have felt and about whom she'd felt it, it was too late to go back. Dakota was so different from the boy she knew a year ago, and she'd spent so long convincing herself she had no feelings for him that she believed it now. Or she had until Bobby opened his fat mouth. Couldn't he see she just wanted to put her past behind her? What was the point of dredging up ancient feelings she'd convinced herself had never existed? It was so much easier to believe she'd only lost a friend, she had plenty of other friends to take his place. She just wanted to leave it all behind and move forward with Percy, but Bobby had stuck a wedge in the door she couldn't remove.

With grudging acquiescence, she admitted there was at least one thing he'd been right about. Her feelings for Jason had never been genuine. She'd persuaded herself they were because he'd always been who she was _supposed_ to be with. She was the beautiful and powerful sorceress and he was the mighty son of Jupiter, the two most powerful demigods of their generation. They were the ultimate couple that everyone assumed were meant to be together, so she'd willed herself to believe it too. Even now, her memories were fogged with her self-imposed attraction to Jason, but deep down, she knew it was at least half-false. Physically it was kind of impossible to _not_ be attracted to Jason, but Reyna had forced the emotional attachment on herself. She sighed as she remembered her 'confession' a week ago. If Bobby was right, and Jason knew her feelings weren't true, it was no wonder he'd run, or chosen to forget as Percy had. Bobby had told her Jason loved her, and her false confession probably drove him to the edge. She supposed if she ever saw him again, she'd need to swallow her pride and apologize for leading him on for so long.

Coming to grips with the truth of her feelings for Jason, she felt her tears returning. Why did it have to hurt so much? Was she such a horrible person that being herself had to be so painful? _No_,_ it's not my fault._ It was all the terrible things done to her that forced her into to the life she pretended to lead. It was Bobby with his fucking high handed righteousness telling her she was a bitch for wanting to be happy. It was Jason choosing to leave rather than taking what he wanted so she could keep her image. It was Percy for showing up out of the blue, letting her maintain her hope in the lies only to have some slut out there somewhere he was shtupping. It was Dakota throwing her away because he was a jealous twat. It was Dakota turning into a mean-spirited asshole because of a little rejection. It was Dakota forcing her to say no by even asking. It was Dakota being stoic yet funny, rigid but sweet, hard-nosed but loyal, generally being everything her true self wanted forcing her veneer to crack. It was Dakota destroying her life on the one day she'd waited years for. It was Dakota raping her. It was Dakota loving her.

Reyna's thoughts involuntarily strayed back again to her first day as Pilus Prior. Now that the lies were stripped away, her memories seemed foreign, as though they'd happened to someone else. Her true memories were so different from what she'd twisted them into she felt as lost as Percy must be. Had she done any different than he? She'd turned her mind away from the truth just as he had, though his motives were probably loftier than hers. She was forced to view herself now as she truly was, and she didn't really like what she saw.

When she'd awoken in the chambers she'd been given in the Senate hall, there were no feelings of shame or horror at what had happened the night before, only pride and satisfaction. Bobby was right, she _had _wanted the status her office gave her. When they'd given her the option to turn away from the ritual, she hadn't even taken a moment's pause before rejecting the idea. What was a few minutes of discomfort compared to a lifetime of aristocratic influence? Was that who she really was; was she really the whore Juno had made her out to be?

As the rest of that day replayed again in her unclouded mind, she began to notice her façade cracking. At the luncheon celebration she'd followed Jason with her eyes as she always remembered, but it was hunger rather than affection that drove her gaze. As she recalled being caught in her musings, she saw the first chink in her armor fly at Dakota's expression. She'd always thought he was looking at her with disdain, but now with her memories unguarded, she saw unchecked anguish in his eyes. That look had been the first moment she knew her 'lesson' the night before had been at one of her best friends' hands. She didn't know at the time if it was Jason or Dakota, but she knew who she would have rather had it been. The first seeds of doubt had been sown in that single glance over a slice of cake baked in her honor. The taste had turned bitter in her mouth as 16 hours after the fact, she finally began feeling violated.

The rest of her memories of the day blurred past her again. She realized now that the wine she'd drunk that evening had had nothing to do with celebrating. All she'd wanted was to forget, to forget the knowledge that Dakota could have been the boy who'd blindly taken her virginity. She knew now the bitter irony was if she'd been able to be herself—without the lies she cloaked herself in—and had been given the choice, Dakota would have been first on her list. But that he might have had her without her knowledge mortified her, so she'd drunk herself silly. She could have handled it from Jason, he was an object of power, and power is meant for force. He was built to take. Dakota was different, he someone to share with. To have herself taken by him without her knowledge felt so wrong. If it had to have been him, she would rather it have been a mutual decision—a decision, she confessed, she would likely have made.

Remembrance of Dakota's confession in the temple served only to increase her sense of shame. His feelings and words had been genuine. Hers, as always, were lies. She threw his love in his face, when all she truly wanted was to embrace it. But she'd known from the moment she saw tears in his eyes that she wouldn't be able to say yes. The easy path would have been to say that she'd known from the minute he spoke that he was her violator, and that was part of it. But the truth was he was showing weakness in his breakdown. A weakness her insecurities wouldn't let her ally herself with. He knew it and took it as truth that she would never be able to love him as he was then. So he began to change, to reshape himself into what he thought she would admire. But it didn't work, her mind had closed in on itself to lock away all her affection for the boy she thought had raped her.

And there it was, the bitter truth of her shame. She slid off the unicorn and fell to her knees. Bobby was right, he was an asshole, but he was right. He hadn't said it outright, but he knew. Reyna hadn't been raped; she'd had the option to say no, to resume her life in the rank and file, but she'd scoffed at the offer. Who wouldn't want to be an officer? She'd consented and willingly accepted the outcome. It was Dakota that made the experience abhorrent. Not because he disgusted her, but because he did the exact opposite. It became unbearable, so she'd thrown away all the memories of her decision and her easy acceptance to focus on the one thing she thought had hurt her. But even that was wrong. Dakota hadn't hurt her, not really. Only one person had ever truly caused her pain. Herself. Burying her face in her hands, she wept.

She didn't know how long she knelt there sobbing before she heard a soft step in front of her. Suddenly without a word, she was enveloped in Percy's embrace. The salt smell of his hair was both soothing and acrid. He made no attempts at comforting words; he merely held her until her weeping subsided. As it did so, she pulled away from his hold to search his face. She was looking for something to make Bobby's accusations false. As her desperation peaked, she realized that Jason would have never done what Percy just did. He wouldn't have tolerated her histrionics, and she wouldn't have wanted him to. Her former self would have seen the acceptance of her emotional collapse as unforgivable. She found a glimmer of hope in that. Not that she and Percy had much of a chance, but that she at least had the ability to look past her expectations for qualities that a normal human being would value.

"Percy," Reyna began, but before she could finish, he leaned forward again and kissed the tears off her cheeks. For the first time since she could remember, a voice she recognized as her conscience cried out that this was wrong. But it was weak after so much disuse, and the warmth that spread through her at the touch of Percy's lips drowned the whisper in its swell. Despite herself, she turned her face up and met his lips gently. It was funny how easy it was to abandon reason for the tender touch of a boy she knew she couldn't keep. Acknowledging her selfishness, she knew that regardless how fleeting their affair might be, she wasn't ready to give him up yet. Even if she'd wanted to, it probably wouldn't have been possible. She might not have been his mortal anchor, but he certainly felt like hers at the moment. Or at least her life line to sanity.

"You have such beautiful eyes." Percy had pulled away and was gazing at her in apparent wonder. "Every time I look at you, it's like I'm seeing them for the first time. Like every time I look away from you, I forget their shape and their color. I don't mind though," he smiled. "Just means I get to discover them again and again."

Reyna felt a chill creep down her spine, abolishing the warmth Percy had brought to her soul just moments before. She knew why he could never remember, she'd seen the intense grey eyes he envisioned her with in his mind, the last vestige of the girl he'd loved in his old life. Eyes so like little Serah's that Reyna had no doubt this mystery girl was a daughter of Minerva. She nearly laughed at the thought of the bumbling, oft-confused Percy with a girl who likely prided herself on her smarts. Talk about an odd couple. As much as it hurt, she knew Percy could not be allowed to forget her completely. If Bobby had come even remotely close in his assessment of Percy's condition, it would be disastrous. She faltered and turned her head away despite his light gasp of protest.

"Percy, do me a favor," she beseeched. "Close your eyes and think about me." He smiled as he complied with her request.

"I think that should be easy enough, I've been doing it all morning."

"Can you describe what you see? And I swear to Jove, if you start describing me naked, I'm gonna throw you off this mountain." Percy's guffaw was a bit too forced for her not to believe he'd been thinking of just that. She pushed him so hard he had to flail his arms awkwardly to keep from rolling off his knees into the snow.

"Okay, okay. Um, where should I start?"

"My feet," she decided.

"Gross." She shoved him again, but his laugh was much more genuine. "Well, they're attached the right way, which is a good start, and you always wear your brown calf-boots." He continued describing his vision of her, causing Reyna to blush more than a few times. She was fully clothed in his depiction, but there were several times she seriously considered chucking him off the mountain anyway, especially during his detailed report on her hind quarters. Eventually he managed to pull himself away from his musings on her figure to focus on her face. He described her long hair, high cheek bones and somewhat squared jaw almost as if she were looking in a mirror, but she didn't really care about that. She'd deliberately had him start far away from her eyes hoping the flow would lead him straight through without thinking too much. She was admittedly torn on what she wanted him to say. "Your eyes are always intense, looking at me like you're searching my soul. Almond shaped, deep grey, the color of a stormy sea…wait, no that's not right," he broke off opening his eyes to look into her own, round and deep sapphire blue. "Rey, I'm sorry, I—"

"No, it's ok," she shook off his apology. "I—no, it's better that way."

"What do you mean, 'it's better'? I think it's pretty embarrassing that I can't remember what color your eyes are, but I have no problem with—" He gestured suggestively down the length of her figure.

"Typical male," she scoffed hoping to divert the subject. If Percy responded to anything, it was humor. Reyna couldn't deny she was a little disappointed at how strongly he held to the image of his former girlfriend's eyes. Was she really his 'former' girlfriend? It didn't matter, their lives depended on his connection to her. Regardless of what Reyna and Percy might become, she couldn't allow him to fully forget. She vowed to keep her eyes averted as much as possible without raising Percy's suspicions. She couldn't help giving him a sly look, though, when he started spluttering his objections to her stereotyping insinuation. Eventually he let it go.

"So do you want to tell me what Bobby told you that sent you hysterically galloping off into the woods?" Percy's attempt at adding buoyancy to his question failed miserably as Reyna felt her expression falling. He placed a finger under her chin to draw her face in his direction, but she didn't need to force herself not to look at him now. Guilt and shame were enough to perform that task for her.

"It was nothing," she lied thickly, "just some unpleasant history lessons." The nausea that more lies evinced compelled her to add at least a little truth.

"History lessons? Seems like a strange thing to get so worked up over."

"They were of a personal nature, Percy." Gods, he could be dense sometimes. "Things I really didn't want to ever think about again." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him scowl, though whether his darkened expression was directed at her or Bobby she didn't know.

"Haven't you had enough of those lately?" he growled. "I'm going to kill that tactless bastard."

"No, Percy, it's ok." Reyna placed her hands his shoulders and shook her head. "He's just stressed out. We all are. That doesn't mean I forgive him," she added quickly to quell his incredulous look. "He's still an ass, but some of what he said, well, it needed to be said. Besides, I said some pretty horrible things myself." She wanted to tell him he didn't need to worry about it, but that was one lie too many, so she kept silent.

"Are you sure?" he queried lightly. "Maybe I could just maim him a bit? I think kneecaps are pretty easy to break." Bobby was right, Percy certainly did know how to make her smile. She laughed and placed a hand on his cheek.

"No. At least not until after the quest." He laughed and leaned in for another quick kiss before rising to his feet and offering her a hand up. She rose and found her jeans soaked with melted snow. Cursing, she rubbed her knees in a futile attempt to dry them off.

"Well, then I guess we better go find him," Percy sighed with mock dejection. "Starbuck says if we hurry, we can set up camp close to Yellowstone tonight." She nodded and let him help her mount Phoenix before vaulting himself onto Starbucks broad back. They were about to turn back to where they'd left Bobby, when he and Ali trotted into view. As they approached, Reyna could see discomfort etched across his face. She figured it was still too soon to talk to him, and the stare she directed at him made him visibly flinch. She could probably have done all sorts of nasty magical things to him but figured she'd just give him the chance to twist with guilt for a while. Let him have a taste of her life for a bit if he thought he knew her so well. After a few moments of silent appraisal, Bobby sighed and apparently said something to the unicorns. They turned and, as a group, shot off through the mountains towards their destination.


	21. Chapter 21 Percy

_Chapter 21_

_Percy_

"That's a _lot_ of cows." Percy's observation was met with raised eyebrows from either side as he stated the glaringly obvious. Spread before them in the large basin surrounding Old Faithful, were thousands of cows, red cows. The sight of the scarlet bovines moving placidly in stark contrast against the snow whitened ground evoked the unsettling image of a sea of blood.

"No shit, Sherlock," Bobby scoffed. "Not just any cows either, sacred sun cows." They'd come to a fragile truce the evening before as they camped on the outskirts of Yellowstone proper. Oddly, it had been Starbuck who'd convinced the boys to put the mission first. Reyna had been harder to persuade, but then again she'd been hurt the most. Percy still didn't really understand the exchange that had sent his new…well, he didn't really know what to call Reyna at this point, but 'friend' didn't seem strong enough. He hadn't really formed a strong opinion on their relationship yet, it was only a day old after all. Anyway whatever Bobby had dredged up was obviously causing her distress, and she refused to discuss it. Bobby's haunted expression whenever he looked at her was enough to convince Percy that whatever it was, he wished he'd never had to say it. Not that he would take it back, but that he regretted being forced to say it in the first place. More than Reyna's, Bobby's attitude led Percy to the decision not to pry. If they wanted to tell him, they would, but he doubted it.

The unicorns had been so nervous as they camped that night it didn't take too strong an argument to urge the questers into working together again, at least for the moment. Whatever they sensed was coming in the morning, it was bad enough to convert simple restlessness into oblivious destructiveness. Their shuffling had knocked over the tent twice and nearly sent the nearby forest up in flames when Phoenix unwittingly kicked a fully flaming log out of their fire pit. All three of them put up a big stink about even having a fire in the first place, but it was still extremely cold, especially for the California kids. Freezing temperatures were a rarity and snow only existed in pictures for Reyna and Bobby. Percy figured he must have come from a colder clime. He was cold, no doubt, but he wasn't nearly as miserable as Bobby and Reyna looked. All in all, he'd had no reason to complain; he was quite comfortable sitting in front of the fire with Reyna huddled close for warmth. He didn't even mind Bobby's derisive looks, he was probably just jealous.

Bobby's breaking point had almost been reached when they'd turned in for the night. Reyna and Percy had entered the tent, while Bobby threw some snow on the fire and unsuccessfully tried one last time to calm the unicorn's down. Percy knew it was a bad idea, and the bright red glow of Bobby's face illuminated by the flashlight confirmed it. When Bobby had finally entered the tent, it was to find Reyna calmly crawling into a sleeping bag with Percy. To Percy's everlasting gratefulness, she was fully clothed, and with the look he gave Bobby, he tried desperately to convey that it was not his idea, that he'd protested stringently (which was a bold-faced lie), and that he'd kick her out if he could (also a lie.) But he did his best to be convincing. Percy could tell it took all of Bobby's willpower to walk past them to his own sleeping bag, crawl inside and turn his back. For his part, Percy realized right away, that a good portion of Reyna's motivation was specifically to spite Bobby. He knew he was being used, but the closeness of her body and the now familiar lilac and vanilla scent of her hair somehow made him feel ok with it.

The most exciting events the night held—a grave misfortune from Percy's perspective—were a few scuffles with the unicorns who seemed unable to stand still or sleep. They'd all awoken surly from lack of quality sleep and passed the morning teardown in grumpy silence. It turned out they were lucky to have camped so close to the ridge that overlooked the central basin where the field of geysers lay. The unicorns universally refused to bear them further. They would go with them, but they didn't want to be burdened with excess weight 'when the fighting began' as they ominously foretold. It took a little over an hour to make the trek to the top of the ridge where they currently crouched gazing in awe at the massive herd of crimson cows.

"I thought they lived in Texas," Percy continued without really thinking about it. The looks on his companions' faces morphed from skeptical to thoroughly confused. It took him a moment to realize he'd unwittingly remembered something specific, and it was just his luck he'd remember where a giant herd of stinking red cows were supposed to live. He wasn't being derogatory with the stinking part. Even a normal sized herd of cattle has a certain fragrance about it, and this one was no different. Sacred they may have been, but their shit still stank like any other cows'.

"Percy, how the hell do you know that?" Reyna's eyes were closed with her fingers squeezing the bridge of her nose in consternation.

"Um, dunno. Guess they just seemed familiar."

"You think _I_ have weird animal issues? The one thing you remember from your old life, and it's red cows?" Bobby shook his head and turned back to consider the herd. "Well, assuming you're right, then what exactly are they doing here?"

"Walking around trying to stay warm, I'd assume." Percy's nerves were tensing bringing out his odd propensity to crack jokes in stressful situations. Bobby returned a flat stare; he wasn't the biggest fan of Percy's comedy.

"Hilarious," Bobby replied flatly.

"I try."

"Moving on, what I meant was how did they get here and why? Apollo's gonna be pissed if they all freeze to death."

"I think they might have bigger problems than the cold." Percy followed Reyna's gaze to the far side of the valley. The spot she was indicating was far enough away that he had a hard time discerning what he was looking at. One thing he did know, it was huge. Bobby had seen the enormous moving mass as well, and the unicorns went bonkers behind them as they deciphered his vision into their own understanding.

_Lord, _ _ leave! _ earth _ its son _! _ Percy couldn't make out much of Ali's desperate plea, but she obviously knew about whatever it was stirring on the far edge of the plain.

"Ali, do you know what that thing is?"

_I cannot speak his name! It is forbidden—_ A terrible sound cut the hysterical unicorn's thought short. Percy's first impression of the noise was they were experiencing a massive earthquake. In fact, the ground was shaking violently, but it the sound was the cause, not the effect. Reyna reached out quickly and clung to his arm in fright as he slowly realized the sound was laughter. The laughter of some unbelievably huge voice. Looking quickly around at the surrounding snowcapped peaks, Percy noticed the beginnings of several avalanches. He shuddered remembering his last experience with an avalanche. He was in no hurry to experience another one. Returning his gaze to the geyser plain, Percy saw the enormous creature wading resolutely through the swarming cattle. By some miracle, the cows refrained from stampeding at the sudden horrible sound of this monster's. Percy admired their resolve, now that he could see more clearly what approached them, a six-member stampede in a direction that took them far far away seemed more than appropriate.

Apart from being enormous, 40 feet tall at the most conservative estimate, the monster was pretty damned ugly. It had long, matted hair almost like fur hanging loosely from its head and face. Its arms were hairy too, all four of them. Creepy as that was, they were still human-like, or primate at least. All similarity to humans ended at the giant's waist where its skin morphed into dragon-like yellow scales. In fact, its entire lower half was dragon, clawed feet, tail and all. Percy didn't know much about his past, but he certainly hoped this was the ugliest thing he'd ever seen. The sight was made all the more horrific by the giant's heaving laughter as it moved across the cow-laden plain. When it reached the dead center of the valley, it stopped and turned its grinning face straight towards their hiding spot. At least, Percy thought it was grinning, the fanged teeth made the distinction between smile and growl rather fine.

"So you wish to know who I am, Son of Poseidon?" The giant's laugh tore through the wilderness again as he sensed or saw their confusion over both his knowledge of Percy's identity and the use of the sea god's Greek aspect. So far as Percy knew, he was the only one who still called the gods by their Greek names, though he still had no idea why. Reyna and Bobby were both looking at him accusatorily like it was his fault there was a giant half-dragon, half-bigfoot cowboy mocking them from the center of his cow herd miles away in the valley floor.

"Don't look at me." Percy held up his hands rejecting responsibility. "I don't know who he is."

"No, you do not, Perseus Jackson, but you are certainly the reason I am here. For that I must thank you." The giant directed a mocking semblance of a bow towards the ridgeline where they were hiding, or _had_ been hiding. Keeping hidden doesn't really work so well when your enemy knows exactly where you are. "You have chosen perilous traveling companions, Sea Spawn. Far more so than me." It was Percy's turn to send reproachful looks at Bobby and Reyna. He didn't know who the giant creature was, but it seemed fairly well informed so far, why chance it? Bobby looked shocked while Reyna's eyes showed pain at Percy's unspoken accusation. He shook the monsters suggestion free of his mind. They might not all see eye to eye at the moment, but these two had stood by him steadfastly since he'd showed up with no memories and the trappings of an enemy. He had no right to believe they were anything but friends.

"Why should I fear my friends instead of a freaky dragon-hobo like you?" he shouted down at the monster.

"Perhaps the daughter of Trivia, whom you so admire should explain. How about a little word association? Tell us girl, what do you think of when I say the word 'Greek'?" Percy had turned in confusion toward Reyna in time to see her face flush and her eyes flash with rage. It didn't really matter what she said, the look in her eyes told Percy everything he needed to know about how she felt regarding Greeks. She must have gotten the runs from a bad Gyro once or something. Regardless, Percy had no idea what any of it had to do with him.

_Do not let him turn you against each other, Percy_. Of all the shocking things Percy had seen and heard this morning, Starbuck's use of his proper name was probably the most unexpected. _Lineage is of no concern in this fight, only teamwork._ Whether he was speaking of himself and Percy or Percy and the other demigods was unclear, but it didn't seem to matter. Looking back at the monstrous giant facing them, it would take all six of them to even remotely stand a chance.

"The Greeks were our mortal enemies. But they've been extinct for millennia. They're all where they belong now, in the depths of Tartarus." Reyna's voice was more matter of fact than her expression, as though she was talking about a disease that once ravaged entire populations but had since been eradicated to the betterment of the human race. The giant reared back with another burst of booming laughter.

"Do you hear that, Jackson? Your little girlfriend thinks you are extinct!" Percy nervously transferred his gaze between his two companions. Bobby had the benefit of Ali's calming thoughts urging him to ignore the impulse to slice Percy open, but Reyna had no such mollifying influence. He watched her face undergo a series of transformations, from pain, to disbelief, to denial, to imploring, and finally to anger.

"Is it true?" Her voice was low and controlled, but rage flowed just beneath the surface. Percy obviously had no idea if what the monster suggested held any level of truth, but she seemed to be ignoring his amnesia for the moment.

"Does it really matter?" It was the only rational response Percy could manage, but he forgot he was dealing with Reyna. Rationality didn't really hold much sway with her, especially in tense situations. She seemed to think he was being flippant, and moved her hand to grasp the hilt of her gladius. "Hold on! Do you really think I'm your enemy? After traveling with me all week? After the last two nights?" He reached out to touch her face, but she flinched like his hand was made of acid. "Rey, don't do this."

The anger dissipated from her frame as he cupped her cheek and searched her eyes for understanding. She released her grip on the gladius and lowered her head out of his grasp. "I hope you know what you're doing." So did he.

"How sweet," the giant mocked with a rumbling chuckle. "Bravo, Jackson! You might just save us a bunch of trouble. Enjoy each other, you two. Demigod wars have certainly been fought over less. I don't know though, Perseus," he continued with a reproachful tone. "She's pretty but she's no Helen. Is she worth it?"

"And fuck you very much too." Reyna's fire returned ten-fold, and Percy sighed in relief that is was no longer directed at him. "Who the hell are you, anyway? Should we even waste our time on you?" Her slight fueled a bravado Percy was sure was going to get them in trouble. Sure enough, the giant monster's stance stiffened. If they could have seen his face clearly at this distance, Percy wasn't sure he wouldn't have needed to change his pants.

"Oh, not to worry little illusionist, you'll have all the time in the world when I'm done with you." His voice had lost all sense of mirth as he addressed Reyna. "Tartarus is a rough place for a girl like you, but I'm sure you'll get used to eternity on your back." Percy's noble nature sent him into a rage at this taunt. He would have vaulted over the ridge and run straight at the giant and probably his death, but he found himself yanked backwards on his ass as he rose, pulling his pen from his pocket.

_Heed my advice, Percy! Do not let this one divide you! That includes allowing him to goad you into rash action. He is not to be trifled with._ Starbuck release his bite-hold on Percy's shirt allowing him to drop fully to the ground. The shock of the unicorn's action and words overcame his initial rage, but his resolve was set. Who or whatever this ugly bastard was, he was going to die.

"Sticks and stones, little man," Reyna taunted still managing to find confidence from somewhere. "Now who are you, so we know how to kill your ass."

"You know I was going to tell you, I do so enjoy talking about myself." The giant took his first step in their direction since the parley had begun. "But now I think I'll just let you enjoy the surprise." As he continued his deliberate march toward them, it became clear that the giant wasn't much of a shepherd. Though he could have easily crushed a singly cow like a bug, the presence of several thousand at his feet was causing him issues. Consequently, his progress was slow. Percy figured they had a few minutes to strategize before the need to flee became desperate.

"Alright, we seriously have _no_ clue who this guy is?" Percy implored. For the first time, he fully grasped the inconvenience of his lost memories. "I mean you'd think a 40 foot tall dragon-footed cattle thief would be pretty memorable."

"How do you know he's a cow thief?"

"Look at him," Percy pointed to the fumbling giant trying unsuccessfully to wade through the swarm of bovines. "He doesn't exactly look at home with his charges."

"Point taken," Bobby conceded after a skeptical glance at the monster. "Ok, so let's think. Rey, you know of any stories with stolen red cows and giants?"

"Just one, but it's Greek so I'm really fuzzy on the details." Reyna scrunched her face, obviously trying to some obscure bit of history. "Something to do with Hercules, I think."

"Fantastic, gotta love those impossible tasks," Bobby soured.

"What did Heracles have to do?"

"You know, we are going to have to have a serious discussion about all this Greek stuff, Percy," Bobby interjected.

"Fine, I'll pencil you in next week, shall I? You know, when we're all dead? I know a great little café along the banks of the Lethe. The view is fantastic, really makes you forget all your troubles." It was harsh, but Percy was getting tired of being maligned over semantics. He was brought up short by Reyna's hand on his forearm.

"Let it go. Let's just figure out how we're going to kill that fucker."

"Speaking of letting things go," Percy mumbled under his breath. She was obviously still upset about the giant's speculation on her feminine value.

"Look, all I can remember about the story, is Hercules had to reclaim the cattle of Helios from Geryon, but I don't think our friend down there is Geryon."

"He's not." Somehow, Percy knew for a certainty that this giant was not Geryon. "Are there any other versions of the story?"

"I-I don't know, we don't spend a lot of time learning Greek history," she explained. "History usually isn't very kind to the losers. No offense, Percy." Percy wasn't sure whether it was worth it to feel insulted. He didn't even know for sure whether he was 'Roman' or 'Greek'. As he waxed philosophical on his origins, Percy was distracted by a slight shimmering of the air near his shoulder. It was kind of nondescript, like heat rising off of blacktop on a summer day. As he looked more closely at it a beautiful face came into focus, beautiful and angry. Why the hell was everyone angry with him today? Even disembodied floating heads looked like they wanted to carve him a new asshole.

"Perseus, there you are. Finally." Beside him, Reyna gave a startled gasp and bowed her head while Bobby scoffed and turned away.

"Lady Minerva! What are you doing here, we haven't heard anything from Oly—"

"Daughter of Trivia, you would be wise to hold your tongue. I am not here to speak with you, though if you insist, I certainly have some choice words tucked away for you." Reyna paled visibly under the withering gaze of the floating goddess' head. Her expression was no less stern as she turned back to face Percy.

"Percy." The way she said his name, he was sure she was more than a little familiar with him. He could sense the goddess' disappointment, though whether it was because he had no memories of her or for some other reason was unclear. "You are lucky your transgressions are not of your own impetus. Otherwise…"

"Transgressions?" Percy's confusion was unhidden in his voice. "I don't understand. Athena, have I offended you in some way?" He wasn't sure from what corner of his mind he'd dredged up the goddess' name, but he knew it was correct. Her eyes flashed like she wanted to lay out whatever he'd crime he'd committed in scathing detail, but she held back.

"At this point, I would be less worried about anything _I_ might do to you than what my…" The goddess in the vision paused uncertainly as if she'd almost said something she shouldn't. "I am sorry, this is no time for personal squabbles. I'm here to give you advice on dealing with your current situation, and I must hurry. Zeus will sense my communication soon."

"Can't you just..." Percy made a magic zapping gesture with his hands. The goddess peered at him under flattened eyebrows. "Sorry, uh, can you at least tell us who or what it is?"

"He is the eldest and most powerful of a race of monsters bred from the womb of Gaea. Your hoofed companions have told you of the unquiet earth under their feet. As it happened before, so it is again. The earth wakes to take revenge on the defeat of her favored children, the Titans. She brings forth her demon spawn, the Gigas, or giants. This one's name is Alkyoneus and he cannot be killed. Not here." Athena stopped at the collective groans the three demigods emitted in unison. "He cannot die within his volcanic homeland. But you are not without recourse. If you can incapacitate him, you can drag him away from here and finish the job."

"Um, 'drag him away?' Sure, let me just pull that crane out of my ass and we'll hitch him right up."

"Perseus, flippancy will not help you win this battle," Athena warned dangerously.

"Well, then how are we supposed to a) incapacitate it and b) drag his gi-normous ass anywhere?" Percy was glad she wasn't actually there in person. He was pretty sure she would have blasted his head open like a watermelon at this point.

"It is too dangerous to attack him at close range," the goddess managed through gritted teeth. "I would suggest a ranged attack if any of you have the tools. And as for how to remove him from the premises, you have the answer at your feet, or rather at his feet. And now, I think I must go. He is almost upon you and Zeus draws nigh as well. I wish I could lend you my power, but he was killed my mortal hands alone once, and he must be again. One last thing, Percy, Alkyoneus will not be your most perilous encounter this day." Percy took another look at the approaching giant. He found it extremely difficult to imagine something more deadly than a forty-foot tall half-dragon man. By the time he looked back to the floating head of Athena, she was gone.

"Shit. Couldn't she give us some good news?"

"Welcome to life with the gods," Bobby added cynically.

"Hey guys, think we could stop feeling sorry for ourselves and, I don't know, figure out a way to kill fatso down there?" Reyna cut in. "Bobby, you'll have to take point."

"What, why?"

"Because you're the only one with a bow, dumbass. Minerva told us to not to engage directly, remember? Alright, that leaves me, Percy and the unicorns to provide cover. Now let me think for a minute." Reyna's eyes took on a far off look as she pondered how to send them all to their deaths. An idea was forming in Percy's mind. It had to do with the advice Athena had provided on the freight hauling portion of their encounter, but he figured, as long as it's there, why not make use of it all around?

"Starbuck, Ali, Phoenix," he gestured them close. "Think you can rustle up a stampede?" All three collectively peered down at the basin floor to the milling cattle still milling around aimlessly despite Alkyoneus' bellowing frustration at their hindrance.

_That may be a tall order, Sea Child_, Ali examined. _They seem to be quite placid in the face of danger._

"Well, we'll just have to make them un-placid."

"I think I can handle that, Percy," Reyna interposed. "I think he's using some kind of magic to keep them calm. Bet he wishes he could drop that spell right about now."

"Okay, good, you handle that. The unicorns will wait for your signal to charge the cows. So what do I do?"

"Distract him in the mean time," Bobby suggested. "You're good at making people pay attention to you, work that charm on old fish legs while I try to line up a good shot."

"Shoot him in the eye if you can, Bobby. It should be his most vulnerable spot."

"Great, that means I'm gonna have to get close to him." Percy held out a hand to each of them and they each grasped one tightly in silent prayer and thanks. Then they broke. Bobby ranged around to their left, while Reyna and the unicorns paced quickly to flank the monster to their right. Percy sighed as he watched them go, fully expecting he'd never see them again. He stood, pulled out his pen, popped the cap, and walked slowly down the ridge to meet his fate.

* * *

**A/N: So regardless of what Rick Riordan may have hinted at in TLO, Porphyrion was **_**not**_** the king of the Gigas. Important, yes, leader/king no. That was Alkyoneus or Alcyoneus in the Latin spelling. Not sure why he decided to change the roles, but then he also used a rather obscure single source to describe the giant's origins. Most sources say they were the spawn of Gaea and the blood of Ouranos (like Aphrodite), not Tartarus. I guess it just sounds cooler that way. **


	22. Chapter 22 Battle pt1

_Chapter 22.1_

_Reyna_

How did she manage to get stuck with the unicorns? In the fight for their lives, the only companions she had were the only ones she couldn't communicate with. _Karma's a bitch, I guess_. Unfortunately, Reyna had worse problems to deal with however. She had totally bluffed on figuring out a way to spook the cows. How the hell was she supposed to know if the giant was using magic to keep them calm? Still, she supposed she'd rather be here with the unicorns than in Percy's position. He was walking headfirst toward the horror wending its way through the cattle swarm, and she found herself praying to whomever would listen that he would find a way to keep from getting squashed. For the first time since she'd decided they were going to be together, she was thinking about his welfare over her own, mostly because his wellbeing depended on her not fucking this up. She certainly didn't need the guilt of his death on her shoulders; her plate was already overflowing with that particular dish.

Worse yet, she knew the unicorns were judging her. She couldn't hear their thoughts like Bobby or Percy, but it wasn't hard to tell. They stalked behind her, their beady eyes darting back and forth between her and each other. If it was possible on a horse-like face, they looked conspiratorially smug and overly righteous. Especially the big black one. He'd immediately gotten on her bad side the moment she'd learned he didn't like Percy. What wasn't there to like? He was quiet, knew how to listen, and had a great sense of humor, not to mention he was super powerful. Plus he was hot and smelled great for a boy. She didn't buy the whole land versus sea malarkey Bobby had conveyed to her. _I mean, who really cares?_ Besides, the sea almost always wins in that fight. She smiled smugly and turned an evil eye towards the obsidian-coated unicorn. He stared back blankly. Maybe it was better she couldn't hear what they were thinking.

The cerulean-eyed sorceress wasn't sure what they were looking for as they wound along the sparsely forested ridgeline around the right flank of the crimson bovine sea, but she hoped it would appear to her soon. Eventually their skirting course along with the giant's slow but steady advance towards Percy allowed the four of them to circle behind the monster. Watching his progress from behind, Reyna noticed something that had previously been obscured by the giant's bulk. The trail he left through the fleshy, vermillion carpet was littered with toppled cows. At first glance, Reyna thought they were dead, an easy assumption as the cows were the size of ants relative to Alkyoneus' giant form. _But if he's just stepping on them, what's taking so long?_ Shifting her gaze to the cows closer to the ridgeline, she discerned that apart from some gentle swaying as they breathed, none of the cows were actually moving.

"They're asleep!" No wonder they didn't spook at the sound of Alkyoneus' maniacal laughter. The valley floor was a redneck's dream. Thousands of sleeping cows to tip with no fear they'd wake up and charge. She stopped her ranging suddenly, startling the unicorns behind her. Her smug smile returned as she heard them scuffling to overcome their surprise at her abrupt halt. Putting her petty satisfaction out aside, she closed her eyes and filtered through her cadre of spells looking for something that might wake up the cows. She found three likely candidates, maybe a fourth depending on the nature of the soporific magic.

To narrow her selection, she needed to know how the cows were being kept asleep. _That should be easy enough_, Reyna thought. She began the short incantation that would reveal to her sight the nature of any magic within her natural field of view, but before she finished, the indistinct sound of Percy's voice drifted across the valley. She knew he was in danger and that her work was crucial to their success, but curiosity stole her better judgment and she changed her spell to one that would enhance her own hearing. What was that saying about curiosity and cats?

"Alkyoneus, stop!" The ponderous fiend halted, more out of shock it seemed than any sense of obedience. Reyna watched as Percy's knowledge of his name broke through the haughty, self-satisfied smirk plastered on the giant's face. After a brief moment of incredulity, the massive features twisted into a suspicious glare leveled directly at the puny demigod who so brazenly challenged him. "Yeah, I know who you are cattle thief, but I think your antics aren't going to cause much of a stir this time around. Helios got pretty wound up when you stole his cows, but he's gone. These are Apollo's cows now, and let me tell you, he doesn't give a shit about them. No one's sending Heracles after you this time."

The giant smiled devilishly at this information but remained silent, perhaps hoping the demigod would dig his own grave a little deeper. _Percy, what the hell are you thinking? Hercules was the only one who could defeat him! Ugh, it's a good thing I like dumb guys._

"Well, I don't need Heracles' help to take a fat sack of harpy dung like you down. I'm Percy Jackson,***** Titan's Bane, bearer of the sky, savior of Olympus, and I challenge you, Alkyoneus…not that it'll be much of a 'challenge'." It took several moments for Reyna to discover she was holding her breath. _Fuck, he's hot!_ She didn't know whether his boasts were true or if he was just bluffing, but she would've folded. An authority she'd never heard before, even from Jason, infused Percy's braggadocio and made her knees so weak it was a wonder the giant at whom his taunts were directed was still standing. Despite her awe at Percy's display of confidence, Reyna couldn't help feeling frustration at his blatant disregard of Minerva's advice to not engage this brute at close range. There was no help for it now, Percy was about two seconds away from melee-style annihilation. The monstrosity continued to glare menacingly at Percy for several moments, before throwing his head back…

When the stars cleared from her eyes, she found herself looking up at the face of her coppery steed. Phoenix' horsey visage quivered with concern as Reyna blinked and shook the cobwebs out of her head. _What the hell happened_? The last thing she remembered was watching Alkyoneus rear back after Percy's boasts, then unbelievable pain, and now she was here, supine and dazed…and deaf. She sat up sharply and looked around in dismay. The world had gone silent around her. Brushing her raven hair back, she reached up and put both hands delicately to her ears. She pulled them away to see them spotted with blood, and her error became clear. Instead of directing the spell such that only Percy's voice was amplified, she'd turned the volume up on the entire world, including Alkyoneus' already massive voice. How could she have been so stupid? She of course had no healing magic so she'd just have to live deprived of sound until her ears healed, assuming the damage wasn't permanent. _Damn it! Why am I such a spelltard?_

She started as she realized she had no idea how long she'd been unconscious. A quick glance toward the southern edge of the valley, where Percy had been, told her it hadn't been long. The giant was still facing down the demigod. Reyna could see Alkyoneus' shoulders and head moving like he was speaking, but she heard nothing. She sincerely hoped her spell weaving could be accomplished as easily without sound as with it. Giving up the showdown as a lost cause, Reyna returned her attention to the enigma of the sleeping sun cows.

"_Decernite leporum,"_ the jet-haired magician incanted, at least she hoped so. She couldn't even hear herself speak, but the vibrations she could feel from her throat seemed congruous with the revealing spell. Closing her eyes, she allowed the flow of the magic to enhance her inner vision. The results of the spell were difficult to determine since she relied heavily on the color of the magic in the determination of its origin. With the morning sun directly in her face, her eyelids automatically cast an orange glow over the images she received. The color of the incantation was crucial as it determined the nature of the spell's intent. A red and black spells were generally malicious whereas greens and blues were more benign in origin. There were other aspects to the images she would receive, such as shape and texture. Reyna hadn't understood how a mental image could have a texture until she'd felt the results of her first successful cast of the revealing spell slither through her brain like a snake covered in motor oil. She didn't fear the enchantment binding the cows to slumber would have any such displeasing feel to it. Sleep spells were always comfortable, like down pillows and velour sheets, and the giant's spell was no exception. It was really the color that would help her decide the correct counterspell.

Eventually she had to press both hands over her eyes to blot out the sunny morning light. The ground shook slightly, and Reyna figured, the giant had stomped his foot. The distraction broke her spell completely, and she was suddenly glad she couldn't hear seeing as the monster was in the middle of some long tirade that would have made spellcasting impossible with its noise. With renewed determination, she cast the revealing spell again while covering her eyes completely. As she expected, her vision took on a distinct crimson hue, but something was definitely odd. The giant's malevolence was expected, to be sure, but the spell had no shape, no form. Generally a spell would have some obscure shape discernable as an outline to the colored portion of her vision. Simple spells were almost recognizable in shape while definition became more infeasible with increasing complexity. This spell tinted her entire sight scarlet with no observable edges.

Mentally, Reyna zoomed out on the enchantment feeling her heart drop into her stomach. It was a huge spell, beyond anything she'd ever seen, even from a god. This was a curse of endless sleep for multiple thousands of consciousnesses. It must have been similar to the hex on New York the past summer. She cursed Lupa then for keeping her away from Olympus, seeing that sleeping spell would definitely have helped prepare her for this. She'd heard Morpheus, a god, was bed ridden for a month to regain his strength. But here Alkyoneus didn't even break a sweat. Reyna sighed and opened her eyes, committing herself to a spell that would likely kill her.

_T__elum__lucis__tenebras__pellere__  
__Mentis__malitia__fugiat__agri__  
__T__ransfigere__ferro__lucida__velum__  
__A__nimo__malitia__rupto__scutum__†_

The magic flowed outward toward the boundaries of the numbing veil. She'd chosen a spell that was pointed and direct hoping merely to crack the walls of slumber around the massive herd. There was no hope she would be able to obliterate the Gigas' spell, but if she could strategically weaken it, maybe the unicorns would have a chance. Closing her eyes again, she saw her power speeding toward the angry red fortification. As it connected she felt her life force ebbing steadily away as the magic grasped for purchase on the impenetrable wall the monster had created. It wouldn't be long before she succumbed to the drain, but she would not give up unless she died. Percy needed her help, and she'd be damned if she'd disappoint. White spots were floating in front of her eyes with the effort of maintaining her barrage and she felt herself slipping ever closer to the brink. Finally, she felt the red magic chip. Redoubling her efforts, Reyna bombarded the battlements of the giant's mind until a splinter of bright white shone through the scarlet veil.

Beside her, she heard one of the unicorns give an excited whinny as if it could see the chink in the armor she'd created. Maybe they could, for all she knew. Desperately she pulled her magic back before it drained her completely, but only sheer determination had maintained her consciousness. As she slipped out of the light, she saw Alkyoneus raise his gargantuan club belligerently and swing it in a wide arc toward Percy, who had no hope of dodging. Then everything was black.

_Chapter 22.2_

_Bobby_

_Why do I have to have sweat glands in my fucking hands?_ Bobby's palms were moist from the moment Percy laid out their plan, the crux of which included him making a nearly impossible bowshot. They wanted him to shoot the 40-foot tall giant in the eye…in the fucking eye! Talk about pressure. It wasn't that it was a small target, each eye was the size of one of those ridiculous squishy balls mortals used for abdominal workouts. The problem was how far away they were. At his best, his range for that size target was only 200 feet. Were he the son of Apollo, he could have easily tacked on another 100 or so. _But nooo, Mom has to be the goddess of fluffy bunnies and frigid women._

As he skirted the edge of the thicketed ridgeline, Bobby glanced to his right trying again to gauge the distance. He figured he was the only one among their group hoping Alkyoneus would actually come closer. As it was now, Bobby would have to be well down among the cattle herd, almost under the giant's feet to make the shot. Noticing how oblique his angle was becoming, Bobby forced himself to stop. The further around the giant's flank he traversed, the smaller the target, and that was bad. He crept as far down the ridge as he dared, hoping all the while the monster was severely myopic. At the edge of the tree line, he crouched low and inched forward through the snow dusted grass and brambles. Luckily his hunter's instincts required no conscious thought and he crept through the thicket virtually invisible.

Eventually he could go no further without stepping out into the open, so he stopped and knelt low to the ground watching the man-dragon abomination struggle his way through the crimson bovine sea. Bobby gauged that he was roughly 300 feet from the Alkyoneus', still too far. Flicking his eyes back towards the area where he'd split from his friends, he saw Percy emerging boldly from forest. Bobby had to admit, the guy had cajones. He watched as Percy, showing no signs of fear or trepidation, marched sternly ten feet beyond edge of the thicket that bordered the forested ridgeline and stopped. He planted his feet, put his fists on his hips and glared at the approaching monster. Bobby's earlier fears of being noticed skulking through the brambles were allayed as Percy stood there in plain sight for a good ten minutes as the giant continued his slough through the cows. He watched Percy's resolve turn to impatience before he finally shouted his challenge at the gigas.

Bobby was too far away from Percy to understand him clearly, but Alkyoneus certainly could. The giant stopped with a start and turned a suspicious glare on Percy. He wished he could have heard what Percy was saying that so enraptured the giant, but he knew this was his best shot to get closer unnoticed. Still crouching low, he crept slowly out of his cover. He took a shallow angle between Percy and the enormous monster. He was about fifty feet from the first cow, and once he determined Alkyoneus was still fixated solely on Percy, Bobby broke into a quick crouched trot towards the nearest animal. He kept his eyes trained towards the giant, looking for any sign the monster noticed his furtive movements. When he finally reached the cover of the cows, he was fairly certain he'd advanced unseen. Suddenly the giant's impossibly huge laughter rolled through the basin again.

"It appears you're not so clueless after all, Jackson," Alkyoneus scoffed, grinning mischievously. "Then again, neither am I." He swiveled his head and stared into the woods to Percy's right in the general location where Reyna and the unicorns should be. "Oops, looks like your little girlfriend's not feeling so well. Fainted dead away at the sound of my voice. I'd be careful, she seems easily swayed by powerful men." His tone turned derisive as he returned his attention to Percy. Bobby didn't like the sound of the giant's words. Was he just bluffing or had Reyna really passed out? _What the hell is she doing over there?_ She was supposed to be countering whatever magic kept the cows calm, but if she was lying down on the job, they were sunk. But then again, if he had more time before the unicorns could cause their stampede, maybe he could get in closer.

Bobby took a slow weaving path into the heart of the cattle swarm. It was curious that none of the cows so much as flinched when he touched them. He stopped briefly next to one cow and gave it a gentle prod with one of his fingers. The cow gave no response, not even a twitch, so he pushed a little harder. As he did so the animal rocked slightly on its feet. Quickly, Bobby reached out a hand to steady the poor beast. _The damn thing's asleep._ He felt a momentary wave of relief; Reyna should have no trouble dealing with a sleeping spell. Assuming she wasn't lazing around like mister gigantor was suggesting. He was going to have to have a serious talk with that girl…again.

"I see you skulking around down there too, beastboy," Alkyoneus revealed, turning to his right and looking straight at Bobby. He froze in his tracks behind a hairy scarlet rear end, clearly out of the giant's line of sight. All Bobby could see was bovine behind, and he couldn't decide whether it was better or worse than the ugly montster's face. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Didn't anyone ever teach you it's wrong to violate a sleeping lady? Best watch out there, Bessie." He snapped his massive I-beam sized fingers and the cow, whose behind Bobby was hinding…er…behind, shivered into wakefulness.

_Oh shit!_ was all Bobby could think before the innocent cow sensed his unwanted presence. He heard a sickening crunch as hoof met chest and the sharp pain that overwhelmed him as he flew backwards nearly ten feet spoke clearly of broken ribs. He managed to land softly, though the sucking squelch and another burst of enormous laughter did not bode well for his clothing or his companions' noses if they somehow made it out of this alive. Oh shit was right. Wincing from the internal prodding of the jagged edges of his broken ribs, Bobby gingerly attempted to emancipate himself from the pile of manure. His injury however, was severely debilitating, and it was taking a lot of careful maneuvering to extricate himself. Unfortunately, the process involved quite a bit of slow twists and turns, giving his limbs and body ample time to appreciate the finer qualities of sacred sun cow dung. Apparently satisfied that Bobby was sufficiently occupied, Alkyoneus returned his focus back to his direct challenger.

"Well, little godling, it seems it's just you and me now. I'm a bit disappointed in Athena, though. At least Heracles _looked_ like a man." Percy was still too far away for Bobby to hear his reply, but it wasn't hard to imagine some sort of ribald remark, see as it was Percy, and his manhood had been called into question. On que, the valley shook with the giant's chuckles. "It's too bad I have to kill you, Jackson. You'd have made an excellent court jester once I take over your uncle's throne."

Bobby didn't hear Percy offer any retort, but having squirmed his way painfully into a kneel, he saw the amnesiatic demigod assume a crouched stance, sword in hand. Playful banter time was over apparently. _Fuck!_ He searched frantically around him for his bow. Looking over his shoulder, Bobby saw the weapon had flown another ten feet or so beyond him. Muttering curses under his breath, he managed to creep to his feet. Each step was agony as it jarred his crushed ribcage. Careful not to compress his torso for fear of exacerbating any internal damage, the curly-haired cynic reached down and grabbed his bow. Behind him, he heard a vast roar as Alkyoneus bellowed his challenge. Bobby reached quickly over his shoulder into his quiver, ignoring both the blinding pain and the unpleasant feeling of cow shit slipping through his fingers as he grasped an arrow.

He knew it was hopeless when he saw the fletching of the arrow crumpled and matted with the foul smelling excrement, but he didn't allow himself the time to bemoan the situation. Nocking the arrow, he spun around and took quick aim. Lining up the shot perfectly would do no good. He was too far away to rely on his skill, the arrow would have little hope of flying straight with destroyed fletching, and frankly there just wasn't enough time. Bobby let the arrow fly as he watched the giant swing his club toward Percy in an arc the son of Neptune had no chance of dodging.

* * *

***You have no idea how hard it was for me to not write, "I'm Percy mother-fuckin' Jackson, Bitch!" See, I just wrote it!**

†**Please note, I have never taken a Latin class in my life…Google Translate FTW!**


	23. Chapter 23 Battle pt2

_Chapter 23_

_Percy_

The world around him seemed to move in slow motion. Though he knew it was racing, the pounding roar of his heart sounded in his ears like the slow drumming of a funeral dirge. If a fly buzzed in front of his face, Percy felt sure he would be able to discern individual wing beats. As he crouched, sword at the ready, the only movement occurring too quickly was the massive trunk of the short, thick-trunked conifer his enormous opponent had procured as a club swinging a collision course with his body.

The unassuming tree had been recently deracinated as evidenced by the clumps of rich loamy earth still clinging resiliently to the spider web of fleshy roots rapidly approaching the young demigod. It was all Percy could do even with his battle-heightened senses to simply watch the immense cudgel whistle through the air towards his position. Somehow, he'd managed to come within Alkyoneus' reach, and the giant apparently had no hesitation in utilizing all of his myriad advantages in size, strength, extra set of arms, and unfortunately speed.

Percy had hoped his adversary's considerable bulk would translate to a lack of agility, but the quickness with which he hefted and flicked his tree-club with his lower set of arms to crush the puny demigod facing him was uncanny. Knowing full well he would not survive this attack unscathed, Percy quickly scanned his options for lessening the impact.

He easily ruled out any possibility of evading the club from either its top or bottom. Innate skills he may have, but he was no cat, he had no hope of jumping over the club. Likewise, flattening himself on the ground to let it swing over him was equally infeasible. Considering the giant's speed, losing his footing would signal instant death on a return swing. Retreating out of range was also impossible, he just couldn't run that fast. Advancing toward Alkyoneus was also out of the question. That left two options: running with the club's arc or into it. As scary as the cudgel was, Percy was loathe to turn his back to the wooden terror.

Making his decision, Percy turned and sprinted directly at the advancing truncheon, angling himself toward a spot free of branches. He was only able to take two steps before the timing of his jump would have been too late. With all his strength, Percy leapt as high as he could while extending both feet flat in front of him, hoping to absorb the brunt of the impact far away from his vitals. As his feet made contact with the trunk, Alkyoneus roared in surprising pain.

Sparing a brief glance, Percy saw an arrow embedded in the giant's brawny human-like hand. Something was dripping off the arrow's fletching, the origins of which he didn't have time to ponder as Alkyoneus ripped his injured hand back towards his body. The sudden movement dramatically altered the club's trajectory, and Percy whose legs were buckling under the force of the impact, was lifted well off the ground. Quickly adjusting his strategy, he paused a fraction of a second as the tree-trunk twisted in the giant's writhing grasp. Tensing his leg muscles as he rotated toward the apex of the trunk's circumference, he pushed with all his force. His leap along with the bludgeon's course flung Percy in an arcing flight directly towards the monster's head.

In the brief second before his impact, Percy experienced a number of odd sensations. A sharp pain crept up both of his legs as the repercussions of his impact with the massive cudgel forced themselves into his consciousness. He figured he probably had some broken bones or torn ligaments. Ultimately it didn't matter, it was painful and that's all he could register. He was also bombarded by a flurry of images, most from the last week but also several he knew were memories of his previous life. Percy still couldn't place names, faces or events, but since they were all unfamiliar from the past few days, it was only logical he was reliving momentous or precious events from earlier in his brief life.

Only a few images were distinct: flying through the skyline of a city on a midnight pegasus towards a large bronze statue of Hermes, an innocent-looking Cyclops standing nervously in the center of a herd of oversized sheep, a bunk in a cabin built of elements of the sea with a large round shield embossed with images he knew were familiar and the horn of some bovine creature hanging on the wall above it. The last image he saw before slamming sword first in to the howling face of a giant was a large pine tree set alone on the top of a small hill, a shimmering dragon wrapped at its base and the object requiring the monster's protection hanging from a low branch, fluttering in the cool morning breeze and glittering brightly in the wan winter sunlight. He had no time to ponder the significance of his vision before his sword sank sickeningly into Alkyoneus cheek.

Percy's body slammed into giant's face with a smelly, bloody smack. Only it wasn't blood spilling over Percy. He cried out in pain as golden ichor flowed over his unprotected hands from the puncture his sword produced. The magical blood of the immortals left angry welts and burns across his skin, but did not eat away his flesh as the pain suggested it might. His only thought was to get as far away from this gushing wound as possible, but not before making it bigger.

His sword was akin to a toothpick in relation to the size of the monster's face, but once recovered from the shock of his impact and burning skin, Percy turned the sword in the wound and used Alkyoneus' cheek like a fleshy sail. The howl of pain that erupted from the giant as Percy's descent rended the flesh of his face nearly caused Percy to lose his grip, but he managed to hang on until the tip impacted with the monster's bony teeth. The sudden stop jarred him loose as the sword wedged between two massive molars.

He tumbled end over end as he fell towards the rapidly approaching earth. Reaching out blindly for any handhold to help slow his descent, the first thing he felt was the giant's greasy chest hair. Percy clutched at it desperately despite his revulsion. The burns on his hands cracked and split agonizingly as his grasped for any amount of the matted fur. It was barbed, bristly and split and tore his palms open as it slipped through his grasp. He was at least able to stabilize his wildly rotating body, though it was little consolation. His legs were already infirm from taking the impact of the club, and a four-storey fall would likely leave him completely incapacitated.

_PERCY!_ The call ripped through his mind like a thunderclap, more disorienting than the impossibly loud bellows issuing from the giant's throat. From the ridgeline to Alkyoneus' left came a blinding flash of light, bathing the valley in crimson as if the caldera under their feet had suddenly erupted. As quickly as the light appeared it was gone, and Percy saw what he thought was merely a shadow streak through the cattle herd, leaving a trail of spooked vermillion cows in its wake. With the ground rapidly approaching, Percy was too busy wondering how many pieces of him his friends would have to transport back to California to really contemplate what it was pealing towards him. Likely it was the shadow of death coming to claim him.

Percy closed his eyes, resigned to his fate. But the crushing impact never came. Certainly there was a breath-bursting jolt, but he was definitely still alive and there was still air rushing through his hair. Opening his eyes, his world was still bathed in the darkness of midnight and his face was pressed against something hairy. He leveraged his arms underneath him and pushed himself away from his furry pillow. Immediately he wished he hadn't. A wave of nauseating pain emanated upwards from his groin and he found himself swooning. _Twice in one week_… As he leaned over and wretched, he despaired of ever being able to have children. _Sixteen and unmanned…by a horse._

_Call me a horse again, Sea Child, and I will take you right back to play with the giant. _Starbuck's usual indignation and harsh tone couldn't dampen Percy's gratitude towards his one-time unwilling mount.

"Thank you, Starbuck," he eked out through the nausea compounded with the pain of his other injuries. Finally gaining some measure of composure, Percy was able to sit straighter on the unicorn's broad back. With the fear of imminent death allayed, questions flooded through mind. _ Why did Bobby shoot Alkyoneus in the hand instead of the eye and what was all over his arrow? What were all those…memories? Were they significant? Why do I still have hands? Not that I'm complaining. What was that flash of light? Why did Starbuck save me? I thought he hated me._

"Starbuck, what was that red light?" He decided to get what answers he could first.

_The broken child's spell worked._

"Reyna made that light?" Percy was confused as to how a simple flash of light could break whatever spell kept the cows calm. Despite his confusion, it certainly seemed to have worked. He and Starbuck were nearly to the opposite rim of the geyser basin, and looking back, Percy saw the beginnings of organized panic among the scarlet herd.

_No, she merely placed the chisel on the steel. The light was the Gigas spell breaking as I drove the chisel home. It was an excellent strategy, considering her mind is closed to us. We must return to her. She needs your help._ Starbuck slowed his charge and wheeled to the right angling his path along the edge of the valley from which Alkyoneus had originally emerged. _However, we have a job to do first._ The basalt unicorn shot off around the valley rim. Looking ahead, Percy saw a blazing streak of brightest white racing towards them around the opposing ridgeline.

Shifting his gaze toward the center of the valley, he saw the giant had recovered from the confusion of his injury. He had turned and begun a steady march back through the center of the basin; his murderous eyes never leaving Percy's. If Percy thought the monster was ugly before, the large gash running down his left cheek, dripping golden ichor turned his visage awesomely gruesome. As he watched Alkyoneus near the center of the valley, a question arose again in Percy's mind.

"Why did you save me?" Percy queried tentatively. The unicorn held his thoughts for a long moment.

_You are essential to the quest that will determine the fate of my race. I could not allow you to die._ It was the answer Percy would have expected from the gruff unicorn, but he also remembered the agonized cry that had slammed through his mind as he began to fall from Alkyoneus' face.

"But I thought you didn't like me? Hated me even," Percy prodded in a small voice. Again, Starbuck remained quiescent for a time before answering

_I despise _what_ you are, Sea Child, not _who_ you are. Neptune could have saved us from our fate a millennium ago, but he thinks us abominations, bastardizations of his chosen offspring, his precious horses. How are we so different from the Pegasi, to whom he shows such favor?_ he implored.

"Perhaps because you deplore your relation to horses? Just a thought," Percy added hastily as Starbuck bucked under him. "How could he have helped you?"

_When humans were given fire, our race, the race of light, diminished, but we could have survived. Then the wild god Faunus disappeared, and with him much of our sacred homeland. His daughter and our creator, Fauna, remained but had bound herself to humans and no longer had the authority over wild spaces to keep civilization out. _The vitriol dripping from the word 'civilization' raised goose bumps on Percy's skin._ We could no longer survive among humans, who had forgotten their obeisance to us after years in the blinding light of their fires. We implored Neptune to allow us to retreat to the waves, which were as much a part of us as the rocks and trees. He refused. He could not abide our earthen natures in his seas. And so we were hunted like so much prey for the amusement of petty humans. Some of us have chosen to overlook or even forgive the Sea God for his rejection, but I cannot._

"I'm not my father, Starbuck," Percy retorted indignantly. He didn't like thinking that his father could be so cruel, but from what he'd seen of the other gods he admitted it sounded plausible. "At the moment, I don't even _know_ my father."

_I know._ Starbuck didn't say anything for a while as he ran. _That is also why I saved you. Despite my adverse attitude, you have shown us nothing but respect and deference. No, young Percy, you are certainly not your father, and it causes me difficulty to admit that I have grown rather fond of you. _Percy was left dumbstruck by the onyx unicorn's declaration. They traveled in silence for another five minutes before meeting Ali at the northeastern edge of the valley. Remembering the giant's excellent hearing, Percy did something he hadn't had the presumption to do since he met the unicorns. He spoke directly into their minds.

_We need to get this stampede started in earnest,_ he began. _Can we drive him towards Old Faithful? I think it's due for an eruption any time now._

_It is doubtful the geyser will harm the creature much. _Ali's usual dry wit was oddly absent from her thoughts. Perhaps it was the seriousness of the situation. Percy ordered his thoughts to respond, but the iridescent unicorn continued as if she'd read his thoughts. _I have many concerns, Sea Child. I worry about Master Bobby. I cannot sense him in this sea of mammals. I fear he may be hurt…or worse somewhere in this morass and our stampede will only endanger him further. I also worry for your broken friend, and for Phoenix who has tied herself to her. She used so much of her life to penetrate the giant's enchantment, she lies unconscious, struggling for survival. Who knows what dark dreams haunt her slumber? _ She paused to look into Percy's eyes. _She needs your help, Percy, far more than we do._

_Fine, _Percy sighed. _Starbuck can drop me off at the tree line near her position. But you two get those cows moving and push the monster towards the geyser. It may not hurt him much, but its distraction and the stampeding cows might be enough to topple him. Bobby will be fine. He was able to shoot Alkyoneus once, he can get free and shoot him again. Alright, let's go._ The unicorns inclined their heads and took off again.

Starbuck continued his way around the basin towards where Reyna lay. Looking toward the giant, Percy's heart sank as he saw that during their counsel, Alkyoneus had chosen a target for his rage. He was steadily moving parallel to their path, eyes fixed on a spot somewhere back in the trees where Percy knew Phoenix stood guard over the incapacitated raven-haired sorceress.

"Fuck! Starbuck, pick up the pace. We've got to get to Reyna before he does!" he shouted, not caring if the giant heard his voice. Percy's heart raced as they sped along the ridgeline. There was no way one of his friends was going down without a fight. He didn't even spare a glance towards the Gigas again, his eyes focused on where Reyna struggled for life. Her efforts were not going to be wasted, Percy told himself. Some inner voice arose from the inner recesses of his mind, niggling at him to be wary of his single-minded devotion to his friends, but he ignored it. They had almost reached Reyna, when Percy's mistake became clear.

The giant's triumphant laughter rang across the valley as Starbuck ran well within Alkyoneus' reach. It dawned on Percy as the whistling sound of the massive club overtook all his senses, that the giant's advance on Reyna was merely a ploy. And he'd fallen right for it.

Reyna didn't matter to the monster, not in her current state. But he did. Percy was a threat, a threat the Gigas had just eliminated. A second before the tree-trunk cudgel connected, Starbuck reared back, taking Percy by surprise. He had no time to strengthen his grip as the sudden motion threw the demigod toward the ground. His breath fled as he impacted the unforgiving valley floor, and it was all he could do to simply watch as his newest friend buckled under the force of the giant's club strike.

"STARBUCK!"


	24. Chapter 24 Battle pt3

**A/N: First of all, a big round of applause for my new beta,_ iscreamdrizzle_. She's amazing and awesome and really helped me turn this pivotal chapter into the amazing product you see before you.  
**

**A word on timelines for the sections in this multi-POV chapter. Reyna's starts from sometime after she passed out from exhaustion. Bobby's starts immediately after he loosed his arrow at Alkyoneus. Percy's very short but pivotal section starts directly following the end of Bobby's.**

* * *

_Chapter 24.1_

_Reyna_

Darkness was absolute and alive around her. Inky clouds of malevolence swirled across her vision, if it even _was_ vision. Reyna had no idea where she was or how she'd gotten there, but simple awareness signaled she still had some form of conscious thought available. Overwhelming emotions began to filter into her consciousness vying with her capacity for rationality. As the undulating masses of blackness swarmed ever closer, fear overtook logic. _What are these things?_

She cast frantically through her sense of being, searching for a quiet place to calm herself in the face of the constricting walls of malice. Terror hampered her efforts and she fumbled through the world of darkness unable to find purchase. Despite her best defense, a tendril of smoky hatred brushed briefly against her mind.

"_Daddy, where are we going?" The old Datson rumbled north along the highway. Looking out the dirty passenger side window, she watched the golden hills drifting by. She marveled at how fast she knew the car was moving versus how slowly the landscape seemed to change. To the eyes and imagination of a seven-year old, it seemed like magic. Beside her, her father only grunted in reply._

_He was tall and gruff with dark hair touched now with grey at the temples. She loved his scruffy face, with its constant stubble. It always tickled and made her giggle when he kissed her. His pale blue eyes, set deep in well-lined sockets, often seemed disconnected as though he stared ahead into a future full of sadness. When he woke her up this morning, she'd been a little frightened. All that pain her father had seen ahead of them was now written on his face, and it no longer seemed like a distant future but as current as the smell of eggs wafting in from their kitchen._

"_Daddy, why won't you talk to me? I just want to know where we're going." He turned his attention briefly away from the highway to fix her with his sad eyes._

"_Away," he said somberly. "You're going away." Panic inched its way through the young girl's heart at her beloved father's words. What did he mean, 'she was going away'? Where was she going? Why couldn't he come? What—_

"_Daddy! Watch out!" The truck swerved and began to roll_…and all the panic and fear of that dreadful memory flooded back into Reyna's consciousness.

She'd tried so hard to put it behind her, the day that deprived her of her father. As the black finger retreated from its probing, it lingered on her conflicting feelings regarding that memory. She realized it was a sentient entity when it began sifting through her emotions. It quickly tossed aside the pain of loss and dread of being alone to focus on Reyna's feeling of triumph.

It was the first time she'd ever used her magic—to save herself. Never mind she'd left her father to die in the horrific accident; her assailant didn't seem to care about the guilt and shame her actions left her with, only the aspects that fed her ambitions. The experience opened her to the possibilities of power, and set her on a path of personal destruction. Before she could wallow in the shame, another tentacle of blackness wrapped itself around her mind.

_The pretty brunette—Samantha she said her name was—knelt in front of her with a sympathetic look on her face. It was the first glimpse of warmth Reyna had seen in the last two days. Two days that seemed to stretch eons. Her father was gone. She'd run when she heard the police approaching the scene, scared they would lock her up for what the others had seen. The witnesses had all stared at her with disgust as she drifted to the ground unharmed._

"_I'm going to look into your mind. Don't be frightened." She almost laughed. Fear was all she knew. From the sounds of the dark forest she slept in the previous night, to the vision of a huge wolf that spoke and threatened her, to all these crazy people around her who'd tried their best to kill her and now were cheering for her, her life was built on terror._

_Samantha reached forward, placed both hands on Reyna's temples and closed her eyes. They remained locked for a long moment before the seer opened her eyes and lowered her hands. Reyna's breath caught in her throat. Sam's eyes were full of the same distant sadness her father's had always held. Unannounced, a tear escaped and rolled unchecked down Reyna's cheek as she saw a glimpse of all she had lost._

"_You have so much darkness before you." The seer kept her voice low, her vision of Reyna's future for her ears only. "I cannot see past it, though it does not spell your death. I only hope you find the strength to pull yourself back to the light. Now, arise Reyna Monroe, Daughter of Trivia, and join your brethren in the defense of Eternal Rome," she finished raising her voice for the benefit of the legions._

Again and again, the seething being dredged through her memories. Always it lingered on her emotions, often rejoicing in her pride and greed while eschewing feelings of compassion or love. Nothing was sacred to this monster as it laid her life bare before it…and herself. Eventually, the pain of being forced to examine her true self forced a silent cry of agony from her mind. If she'd had a corporeal body, she would have flung herself prone on the ground at the monster's feet begging it to stop.

It was several moments, seconds or centuries she couldn't tell in this shadowy world, before she realized the inspection had ceased. Examining the world around her, a spark of light caught her attention. It pierced the darkness like small sun, and she cried out for its warmth. She marveled as it grew in size and intensity then panicked as she realized she had no eyelids to shutter when it became too bright. The incandescence seared her mind with unimaginable pain until she prayed desperately for the dark monster to return and stamp out the blazing inferno.

"My daughter, this does not become you," a mystical voice admonished. Instantly the pain was gone, though the light remained. Reyna found herself contained once again in her body, though she still dreamt. She was lying face down on the floor of some structure that had no name or easy description. It was pure magic in form. Marveling at the power contained within this place, Reyna propped herself up and looked around.

The room was bathed in hazy azure light. The radiance had no distinct source, it just was. The walls held no adornments though they shimmered and rippled in undulating waves. In the wake of each crest, images of people and places Reyna didn't know were depicted. Each person seemed to be in the throes of intense inner turmoil. She nearly cried out as one of the surges passed through the floor beneath her, leaving a mirrored surface in which she was reflected. Her own chaos was too much for Reyna, and she looked away.

Her eyes fell on the figure of a woman standing several paces away. Again the figure had no distinct form as it shifted between life, death and eternity, but the strength of will and presence that emanated from the body was unmistakably female. Reyna gazed for the first time on the form of her mother, a welter of emotions erupting in her soul.

"Why?" she pleaded. "WHY AM I LIKE THIS?" Trivia stepped closer, coalescing into the form of a woman with curly burnt sienna hair, high cheekbones and intensely blue eyes, Reyna's eyes. She knew this was the woman her father had fallen in love with. She'd never seen any pictures or heard any descriptions, but she was perfect for him.

"It is a failing some of my children endure." Reyna almost cried as the ethereal voice morphed into music. Poetic descriptions of that voice had been her father's only concession to questions she'd always asked about her mother. "Especially those who possess a certain level of skill in my legacy." The goddess sighed as she moved closer to stand above her daughter. "You are the most skilled sorceress to be born in several centuries, and you have not had an easy life. Your father…I trusted him to be your guiding light, but…"

"But he's gone. He's gone because of me," Reyna finished her mother's thought softly. Trivia knelt down to look in her daughter's eyes.

"Yes." The word was a dagger through Reyna's soul. Her own divine mother was accusing her of murder. "You misunderstand," the goddess continued, obviously reading her thoughts. "Deckland's death was no one's fault but the Fates. He is only gone, however, because you have driven his memory from your heart. You have chipped away at everything he taught you about life until only the darkness remained. But it's not all your fault, you were still so young when he left."

"Then why didn't you help me? You never even spoke to me! Not once! If you knew I was in trouble, why didn't you do anything?"

"Oh my dear, I wish I could have." What was it about Reyna that put that sadness in everyone's eyes? "As the overseer of crossroads, I am restricted. I am only able to speak with you now because you have come to a fork in your life."

"Isn't every moment a crossroads, Mother? Isn't that how I'm always able to use magic? You couldn't have spoken to me before I decided to become an officer, or before I threw away happiness over power? Weren't those major enough forks in my life?" Bitterness washed over Reyna as she remembered all the times in her life she'd needed her mother's advice.

"You had already chosen your paths then," Trivia responded simply. "And many of those crossroads are yet open for your revisit. However, I am here now because you have come to an intersection that may only be traversed once and have not yet decided which road to take. Only one thing is certain, whichever road you choose is a path of truth.

"You know already that you cannot continue to lie, either to others or to yourself." Reyna hung her head as her mother laid out her choices. Looking back at all her decisions, she knew her whole life had been leading to this choice. Trivia was right, she could hide no longer.

"What do I have to do, mother? How can I change? All I've ever known is powerlust. Can I really just flip a switch and become a different person?" Reyna was lost, she hated who she had become, but determination alone was not going to change her fate.

"My child, the desire for strength is not a flaw," the goddess admonished. "On the contrary, it can be your greatest asset. What you must decide is why you strive for greater power. That is your choice." Why did she want power? She wished she could say she'd wanted to help people, but in the past there had been only one person she'd wanted to help.

She buried her face in her hands and wept in her dream. For the first time in her life, she felt the comforting embrace of her mother. It was like the sun shining through stormy clouds, but Reyna knew it was just the eye of the hurricane. And the worst part of the storm was still ahead. Wiping her eyes, Reyna lifted her gaze to look into eyes so familiar she had to blink to assure herself it wasn't a mirror.

"Reyna, my child, I am proud that you wish to better yourself. However, if decisions like this were as easy as a thought, my cousin Janus would be out of work. The path towards light is always a difficult road, often bleaker than the darkness you strive away from. It pains me to tell you this, but your resolve must be tested.

"When you awake, you will have a choice to make, the true choice that will determine your path. Do not doubt me when I say it is the most important choice of your life." Trivia's voice brimmed with compassion as she continued, "I will not lie to you, Dear, it will be a very difficult decision, and it will require magic you've always denied yourself."

"Magic I've denied myself? But I've always mastered everything I set my hand to. There's nothing…" Reyna trailed off as recognition dawned in her mind. "Mother, I don't have that magic. It's never worked! I can't heal."

"And so it is true. You cannot heal others, because you _will_ not heal yourself. If you have truly chosen to redeem yourself, the magic will come to you." Trivia reached out to cup her daughter's face in a loving gesture Reyna assumed would never happen again. "This first decision you must make alone, but take heart, you will have help along the rest of your journey…so to speak." The goddess hesitated, a wry expression crossing her features as she looked away.

"A relation of mine is approaching. She is…well, just be wary. She will aid you on your personal journey, whichever path you choose." Her mother's revelation sent a shiver down Reyna's spine. If this person were just as likely to send her to destruction as lift her up, she sounded like more of a danger than an aid. Trivia's expression softened as she returned her gaze to Reyna's.

"Now it is time you returned. Your battle is not over and your crossroads approaches. Take some of my strength now; yours is spent." As her mother placed a hand on her forehead, Reyna felt a wave of unimaginable fortitude surge through her. The magic-formed world around her began to fade and Trivia once again resumed her shifting forms. In one moment, she looked young and beautiful, in the next old, wrinkled and wise. As she faded from Reyna's vision, she shifted continuously only the intense cerulean eyes stayed constant. "I love you, Reyna. Never forget."

Reyna's eyes flew open, startling Phoenix who was standing guard. The coppery-coated unicorn was bathed in the same azure light from her mother's dwelling. Reyna swiveled her head trying to find the source noting that the light seemed to follow her gaze. With a start, she realized her eyes were glowing with the power Trivia had granted her.

She shuttered her eyelids and centered herself until she felt the well of strength recede. She opened her eyes again to take stock of the situation and saw death approaching. The giant had managed to come ponderously close to her position, though he didn't appear to be looking at her. To her right, she saw a bolt of midnight streaking toward her position and her heart sank. She was helpless as Alkyoneus raised his club and swung.

"STARBUCK!"

* * *

_Chapter 24.2_

_Bobby_

_Fuck!_ was all Bobby could think as he watched his arrow swing wildly off its intended path. His aim would have sent a normal arrow at least _close_ to the monster's face. As it was, he stared in horror as his feces-laden projectile swerved on a trajectory that, from his vantage point, seemed to head straight for Percy. He sincerely hoped the jokester demigod wasn't currently thinking about Reyna. The last thing he needed with a giant tree-club and an errant arrow speeding towards him was for his already diminished Achilles curse to get any weaker.

Luckily for Bobby, and for Percy, unpredictability wasn't always a bad thing. He watched as the arrow wobbled mid-flight and changed direction. The increased weight of the weapon also added significant force as it arced down and sank deeply into Alkyoneus club-wielding hand. Bobby grimaced wryly at the irony of his shit-covered shot hitting a moving target he never would have been able to hit with a regular arrow and careful aim. His mind conjured an image of Apollo and Diana rolling on the floor of Olympus in uncontrollable laughter.

His self-deprecation turned to incredulity as he observed Percy hurtling through the air to slam sword first into the giant's face. He was stunned again at how a kid with no memories had such an innate knowledge of his own body to be able to even fathom doing something so crazy. The monster's wail of pain drove Bobby to his knees, returning his awareness to his own injuries. He really wished he hadn't left his pack in the woods. Some ambrosia would have really hit the spot.

Worse than his own broken ribs was the feeling he sensed from Hazel. Over the past few days he'd secretly been experimenting with the soul connection, wondering if he had any active control over it or if he was just a participant to Reyna's spell. Through his musings and meditations, he'd found he could, with intense concentration, travel across the spiritual bond. He'd finally managed to reach her awareness last night, and he had no desire to actively do so again.

Touching her dormant soul had been a heartbreaking experience. Dormant it may have been, but she was still in a great deal of pain. Her subconscious was plagued by nightmares and visions she couldn't control, visions of death and destruction that Bobby sincerely hoped were not prophetic. The nightmares had ensnared him through his connection to where Bobby nearly lost hope he would be able to return to his own mind. When he finally did, he found it impossible to completely shut the doorway he'd foolishly opened.

Unfortunately, the gate seemed to work in both directions. He'd been experiencing her terrors all night and morning, but now the pain of his injuries was adding another layer to her suffering. The depths of Hazel's unconscious despair reached stunning proportions. Bobby was having trouble relegating her awareness to the section at the back of his mind he'd allocated her when he found he could not sever the connection.

Fortunately or unfortunately, events around him drove the girl's suffering out of his mind. A great flash of red light shattered the bright white of the sun's brilliance. Before Bobby had time to ponder the sudden plunge into the scarlet morning, the light was gone and another problem arose. _Nothing is ever gods damned simple is it?_

Through his instinctive connection to all animals, he became aware that the cows around him were no longer bound in slumber. And considering the giant monster roaring deafeningly in their midst the sense of unease rippling through the herd was understandable. He need to get out away from the wide-eyed bovines, or the stampede they were working up to would leave the quest with one less member.

Despite the pain in his chest and ears, Bobby managed to scramble to his feet. A quick glance towards Alkyoneus morphed into a gaze of transfixed horror as he followed Percy free falling from the giant's head, his sword left in the 4-foot long gash coursing down his face. The feeling of dread in the cattle increased as Percy neared the ground, emanating from a source distinct from the monster's agonized wails.

It took an extreme amount of self-control for Bobby to refrain from jumping and whooping when Starbuck swooped in and scooped up Percy's plummeting form, leaving a wake of blind terror behind him. His ribs would never have forgiven him if he'd expressed his relief physically.

In truth, he surprised himself with the level of emotion he felt towards this new friend, both fear of loss and elation at salvation. He normally was not an emotional person, and he wondered if Hazel's propensity towards such displays was being communicated across their link along with her suffering.

Bobby's musings were interrupted as the cows around him finally began moving…and lowing, gods did they low. The noise was worse than Alkyoneus' bellyaching. The window for a timely exit was closing fast. The momentum of the herd carried it laterally with respect to where he'd snuck in. He'd have to do some serious weaving in order to get to the edge of their ranks.

After several attempts, all of which ended in some sort of unpleasant forceful contact with a cow, he gave up trying to move perpendicular to the herd's vector. He smiled thinly as he answered the question asked by math students the world over, 'When will I ever use this stuff in the real world?'

Running with broken ribs was something Bobby would never suggest to anyone. It didn't help that the cows were now moving faster than he could ever hope to even were he hale. _Where is that stupid unicorn when I need her?_ The thought sparked a glimmer of an idea in his brain, and before he allowed himself to ponder its pros and cons, he put the plan into action.

Casting around for a likely candidate, he spotted a smaller cow approaching from behind him a little to his right. Angling his path to intercept the narrow-backed animal, he waited for it to come level with him. Reaching out quickly, Bobby grasped the small tuft of crimson hair at the base of the cow's head and used their mutual momentum to swing himself roughly onto its back.

If the cow had been frightened before, the feel of a person on her back sent it into hysterics. _Damnit Bobby, why the fuck did you do this?_ he admonished himself silently. In a panic, his bovine steed surged forward, occasionally bucking trying to forcibly remove its newfound burden. Eventually the herd began to slow as the immediate impetus for its flight disappeared. Waiting for a good moment, Bobby managed to dismount on his own terms.

As he righted himself on the ground, he noticed a metallic taste in his mouth. Raising his hand to his lips, they came away spotted with blood. Bobby swayed with shock, realizing he'd made his injuries exponentially worse with his ridiculous rodeo stunt. He needed to get back to their packs. He had to heal the internal bleeding quickly, or no amount of nectar and ambrosia would be enough. In desperation, he cast his thought out, _Ali, I need you!_

_I am somewhat preoccupied at the moment, Master B_, the pearly unicorn sounded in his mind after a pregnant silence. Bobby tried to locate her among the confusion but since her voice was not sound, it was also non-directional. He'd been carried a fair distance around the edge of the herd away from Alkyoneus and more importantly, away from their supplies.

_Well, how about you occupy yourself with coming to my rescue instead?_

_As you wish, Master B. Move toward the edge of the herd. I will meet you._

_And stop calling me that! _It took him several minutes to realize the giant was no longer screaming like a fish wife over his injuries. He looked toward where he'd left the monster only to find the space empty. It didn't take Bobby long to find the fiend. It was a 40-foot tall giant after all; he didn't exactly blend in with the scenery.

_Shit! Where are you, Ali. Bubba's on the move and Reyna's in trouble._ He searched up and down the ridgeline as he emerged from the sea of cows. To his right, he saw the blur of white that was Ali speeding towards him.

_Here_. The unicorn trotted to a stop next to Bobby, a look of concern over his stooped frame and bloody mouth behind her glistening black eyes. _You are injured._

"Oh, really? Thanks for the insight." Bobby shook his head as he clambered gingerly onto Ali's back. "We need to get to our packs. I need nectar and ambrosia."

_I think it will have to wait, Sir Bobby. The others are in grave danger._

"You can't just call me 'Bobby' can you?"

_I could, but it is more fun this way._

"Nevermind," Bobby sighed. She was right, about the others at least. They had to help them before anything else. "Alright, let's go pull their asses out of the fire." Rather than continue on around the edge of the valley, Ali plunged headlong into the center of the herd. Occasionally she would swing her course to the left or right, simultaneously spooking and shepherding the vermillion cows into an organized flight directly at the towering monster.

It took them several minutes to cross the expansive basin. Herding the cattle slowed their progress more than Bobby would have liked. He took the opportunity to pull several arrows from his quiver and attempt to repair the damaged fletching. He'd spent his entire life in LARD caring for livestock, but sifting through fresh manure with his bare hands was a task he loathed. Eventually he was able to return only one of his arrows to reasonably working order. The others either ripped during cleaning or were beyond repair to begin with. _One arrow, no pressure._

_That should be sufficient, _Ali stated, leaving Bobby confused until he realized she was talking about the cattle._ Their momentum should flank the Son of Earth and carry him away from the others. _

Bobby had been so engrossed in his task he hadn't noticed they'd steadily moved to the southeastern edge of the valley. They were now driving the cows north towards the giant. If the current of flesh was strong enough to unseat the monster, Alkyoneus would be swept away to the north, hopefully out of the valley completely.

"We need to get there and knock him out, or this tactic doesn't stand a chance. Let's go—"

"STARBUCK!" Percy's voice rang nearly as voluminous as the giant's across the valley. Simultaneously, out near the center of the valley, a roaring column of water erupted into the sky twice the height of Alkyoneus. The inhuman shout and the pillar of water as Old Faithful erupted seemed to confuse and distract the giant. Bobby didn't know why Percy had yelled, but this seemed like the perfect moment to strike.

"Go Ali, Go! Get me close!" The white unicorn shot along the edge of the thicket towards the discomfited monster. As they approached, Bobby centered himself and rolled his one useable arrow between his fingers. "Please, I know I've never prayed before and you have no cause to help me, but Apollo, Diana, whoever, let this arrow fly true."

He nocked the arrow, his fingers feeling every twist in the bowstring, every whorl in the grain of his bow. Taking careful aim, he drew the bow slowly, timing his breathing with Ali's rise and fall beneath him, letting all the rhythms of life around him intertwine in a song. The crescendo reached its peak with one note of the chord missing. He completed the sound with the pitched twang of his bowstring.

His head sank. He knew the moment the arrow flew from his bow it would not reach its mark. Apollo had not heard his plea or had simply ignored it. Unable to look away from his failure, Bobby watched resigned as his arrow sped towards Alkyoneus' face.

He was so close. The weapon would wound, but would not hit the desired target. It would, like the rest of his life in LARD, just miss the mark. He listened to the giant roar and turn to face the approaching archer as his upper cheek was pierced just below his right eye.

The tree trunk club was hoisted back, but Alkyoneus was stopped short. Bobby stared in wonder as a veritable forest of new pristine arrows sprouted all over the giant's face and torso. He staggered under the force of the barrage.

Looking around frantically for the source of aid, Bobby saw a number of lithe figures emerging from the woods with deadly grace. They were all dressed in silvery parkas, hoods raised against the chill of the morning. Each girl, for they were clearly female, wielded a shining sylvanwood bow flashing with unbelievable speed as arrows were loosed continuously.

One of the girls, taller and broader than the others, ran close to Ali, who was now trotting slowly. The large girl reached for a silver arrow, but rather than nock and fire, she flipped it up to Bobby as she ran by.

"Try again, hunter." The voice was gruff with concentration, and a mixture of juxtaposed inflections colored the word 'hunter.' Bobby thought he heard disdain and mistrust mingled with respect and resignation. He considered the arrow in his hand; it was lighter than what he was used to, and he would have to take that into account. Looking from the arrow to the girls, he realized his prayer had been answered.

"Thank you, Diana." He nocked the arrow, pulled and released. He didn't bother with exhausting aiming; this arrow was flying home and wouldn't miss its mark. Somehow, in a sky now full of arrows, he was able to single out his shot as it flew unerringly, sinking deep into the giant's eye.

There was no massive roar of pain as before, just silence as Alkyoneus teetered, then collapsed to his scaly knees. As he toppled over, the stampeding sun cattle braced his fall and began carrying the incapacitated giant north toward the edge of his valley.

_I must go, Sir Bobby. I must make sure the Son of Earth is carried outside his walls of immortality._ Her thoughts were full of sadness as she spoke of her duty.

"Ali, what's wrong? Is it Starbuck? What happened to him?"

_His light calls quickly. I would be with him at the end, but I have a duty. Please, go to him. The Sea Child has need of you as well, and you of him._ Bobby dismounted and stared sympathetically at the unicorn who had quickly become his closest friend. Wordlessly, he placed his arms around the alabaster unicorn's neck in a brief embrace before she shrugged him off and streaked after the cattle and their cargo. Turning towards where Percy's voice had sounded, Bobby was confronted with a half-dozen silver clad girls, bows lowered.

"Nice shot," the large girl grumbled. She was clearly the leader of the company though her clothing showed no sign of rank. She reached up and pulled back her hood to reveal shoulder-length wavy dark brown, almost black hair framing a lightly freckled face. She was neither beautiful nor ugly, almost like she tried to make herself unremarkable. The effect failed however, she was easily six inches taller than any of the other girls and half-again as broad.

"Thank you for the help, Hunters. I'm glad Diana heard my prayer," Bobby admitted.

"For your sake, you should be glad she didn't," the large girl retorted tersely. "Diana doesn't suffer males lightly, a quality I admire greatly." She seemed to relish the confused look on Bobby's face. "Lady Artemis is more…tolerant. She demanded our aid, and we are here. I am Phoebe, second lieutenant of the Hunters of Artemis."

* * *

_Chapter 24.3_

_Percy_

He watched Alkyoneus fall under a barrage of arrows, the Hunters of Artemis arriving as though scripted. Normally, the fact that he recognized something from his past would have made him ecstatic, but the knowledge that these saviors were his old friends fell hollow on his mind. Percy couldn't believe it. He'd finally made a connection with his brusque mount only to see him brushed aside like so much flotsam. And now his friend lay dying not twenty yards away and he couldn't reach him.

Percy couldn't walk, his leg was useless now, broken with wood and shattered by earth. He tried to crawl, but his hands were raw and blistered from the giant's ichor, and the brambles and twigs dug painfully into his palms. Starbuck was so fucking close, but he just couldn't get there. He tried to call for help, but his voice was gone.

Even he was surprised by the cry that escaped his lips as Starbuck fell, though not at the anguish behind it. Some outside force had strengthened his voice. He still didn't know who or what, but the distant presence still lingered. He could feel whatever it was writhing in agony as deep as his own.  
Behind him, a branch snapped under a gentle step and he felt gentle hands lifting him up.

"Sshh, Percy, it's ok, I'm here now." He realized then that he had been crying. He didn't care; why shouldn't he cry? Turning his head, he saw a face he knew, but his identification was muddled. She was beautiful in the morning sunlight, pale skin framed by midnight hair, the same color as Starbuck's coat. Her eyes, set atop high cheekbones shift, sometimes deep blue, then he blinks and they turn stormy grey.

"Rey, it's Starbuck," Percy croaked, shaking out the cobwebs. "He needs help!" Lifting his arm, he pointed up the shallow hill to where the onyx unicorn lay shattered. From there, he could see the figure was still alive, ragged breathing shuddering across his frame. Using a strength Percy didn't know she had, Reyna hoisted him to his feet and balanced him on his one usable foot. Slowly, his right arm wrapped around her shoulders, Reyna marched him up the slope to comfort the unicorn.

_Now, who's the broken child, eh?_ Percy sent his thought to Starbuck. Each step was agony, but steadily they closed the distance.

_It is ironic, Sea Child._ The unicorn's thoughts were staggered and jumbled as he faught through the pain. _It is ironic that as she mends, we break. There is a kind of justice to that._

_Justice, my ass. Dumb fucking luck is more like it._ Through the morass of anguish in the unicorns mind, a soft chuckle broke through to Percy. Halfway up the slope, he noticed a movement to his right and turned his head awkwardly across Reyna's body to see Bobby also ascending the slope supported on the arm of a Hunter. Recognition finally dawned in Percy's mind looking at the face of the Hunter. Turning away to look again at his expiring friend, he smiled at how uncomfortable Phoebe must have felt carrying a boy.

Gazing intently at Starbuck, willing the obsidian unicorn to cling to life, Percy heard the sound of sharply inhaled breath. Bobby grunted in protest as Percy turned to see the cause of the commotion. Bobby was kneeling on the ground, his face a mask of shock while Phoebe—quiet, reserved Phoebe_—_clutched her bow, arrow drawn and face murderous.

"Die, Hekate scum!" The bowstring twanged, loosing the arrow, but not at Percy. Heedless of personal injury, he wrapped his left arm around Reyna, flinging himself between her and the approaching death.

"Percy, no!" screamed Bobby, but it was too late. Percy felt the arrow pierce his back low between the shoulder blades. It was a spot he should remember, but all he knew now was pain. But the agony was brief. Darkness soon smothered all other thoughts and peaceful quiet descended.

* * *

**A/N**: **Dun dun dun! **_**l'Morte de Percy?**_** Well, life for our questers certainly just got interesting, eh?  
**


	25. Chapter 25 Reyna

**A/N: Thanks again to my awesome beta, _iscreamdrizzle_. She's amazing!**

**Just so you know, I've taken some liberties with Phoebe. No, not those kinds of liberties; get your minds out of the gutter. I just gave her character some extra oomph. Enjoy, and please review!**

* * *

_Chapter 25_

_Reyna_

Bright sunlight filtered through the barren branches, dappling the snow crusted slope with a delicate spider web of diffuse shadows. Somewhere overhead, a cardinal chirped to his mate, calling her to a newly discovered treasure trove of seeds. The sound of the stampeding sun cattle and their heavy burden had recessed to a dull roar in the distance, returning to the winter forest its tranquility. A squirrel, late to its midwinter's rest, chittered indignantly at the intruders in the midst of his territory.

The peaceful beauty of the chilly morning clashed garishly against Reyna's senses as Percy's limp form hung heavy in her arms. Her mind was alive with a torrent of confusion, terror and indignation. The battle was supposed to be over, the danger gone. Where was the sense in this aggression? Who was the Hunter, and why did she hate Reyna? Why was Percy so willing to put her life above his own?

She'd barely had time to recover from her drain-induced coma. As she awoke, her mother's words still rang in her ears. What was the choice she was going to have to make? The quandary was driven from her mind as she breathlessly watched the battle unfold before her. The arrival of the troop of girls wielding silver bows seemed almost comical in its timing, like a _deus ex machina_ from one of those ancient plays the Bacchus kids were always forcing on the legions.

Despite her brief descent into cuckoo-land, Reyna was not naïve enough to believe the girls' presence was as coincidental or as simple as some random act of divine grace. Trivia had mentioned someone was coming, and she hadn't made it sound all roses and sunshine either. Someone in this group of archers would spell her fate, either lifting her out of the mire or dragging her all the way under.

The inhuman cry that had erupted from Percy's throat as she awoke had sent Phoenix into a frenzy. She remembered the boys telling her the copper unicorn was Starbuck's mate. Actually they'd called her his 'wife' and not being privy to the inner workings of the unicorn mind as they were, the title still didn't sit well with Reyna. Animals mated, they didn't get married.

As the giant fell under the barrage of arrows, Reyna's attention had finally wandered and was immediately overtaken by the frantic unicorn. She was obviously anxious to reunite with the black unicorn, but she wouldn't leave her charge in the face of such imminent danger. Now that Alkyoneus was under control, Phoenix nudged Reyna's shoulder then bolted off through the woods to their right. Reyna, knowing Percy was also likely in that direction, had clambered to her feet and followed briskly.

They didn't have very far to go. Though she'd never been exactly fond of Starbuck, Reyna felt a surge of pity as she approached the spot where Phoenix had stopped and knelt. He was still alive, though his fate seemed inevitable. His flank was crushed and both of his cloven-hoofed forelegs were twisted at impossible angles. Worst of all, his obsidian horn lay broken in half on the ground near his head. As her compassion swelled to the point of tears, her attention was pulled away by a strange sound.

She'd looked around then, remembering Percy must be nearby. Her eyes finally fell on him, realizing he was the source of the peculiar mixture of scratching and croaking sounds. Gingerly, Reyna'd made her way down the slope until she came up behind the prone struggling form of the son of Neptune. As she approached she'd noticed the state of his leg. It was nearly as bad as Starbuck's. He was also crying, and his gaze never wavered away from the broken unicorn.

As she'd bent to help him to his feet…er, foot, he'd looked at her as though she were a stranger. A brief twinge of jealousy rushed through her mind. She knew her face was once again mingled with the girl from his past. She brushed the feeling aside. _Now isn't the time._ Slowly, they'd begun to trudge up the hill towards the dying animal. As they stumbled, she heard Percy mumbling.

"Now, who's the broken child, eh?" She'd begun to respond, but was glad she didn't when she realized he was talking to Starbuck. It didn't take a genius to know who the 'broken child' was or had been. Well at least her paranoia hadn't been too far off, though the judgment she'd imagined was rather far from the unicorns' actual feelings towards her. They had simply seen through her façade faster than she had herself.

Halfway up the hill, the world had stopped. Now everything waited on her. Dangling from Reyna's arms was her antithesis, as she now recognized Percy. All her life, all she could remember had been selfishness. What could she do to for _her_? How could she best achieve _her_ goals? Through one single act, Percy had defined himself as her complete and utter opposite. He had no memories, yet despite the void, or perhaps because of it, he was completely selfless. His own life was unimportant if he could use it to benefit another. And now, as he fell against her, silver arrow sprouting from his back, she finally understood how far she had to go.

"Percy…Percy…_Percy!_" She knelt, gently lowering his body towards the ground while desperately willing him to hold onto life. She could feel his heartbeat flutter against her wrists as she laid him face down on the loamy forest floor. "Bobby! I need your help!" The sight of the arrow that had been meant for her reaching out of Percy's prone form towards the morning's brilliance caught at her throat.

Unthinking, Reyna reached down, adrenaline gripping her body, and ripped his shirt away from the wound. A gasp escaped her unbidden as the gruesome sight met her eyes. Quickly she turned away, bile rising inevitably from her weak stomach. Pushing it down, she forced her gaze back to the wound. Bobby, arrived and knelt on Percy's other side, the big girl in silver who'd shot at Reyna with her venom laced epithet had remained rooted to her spot. Her bow dropped unheeded from her frozen wrists as she stared at Percy in utter shock.

"What the fuck?" Bobby exclaimed in alarm as he looked at Percy's back. Even to Reyna's inexperienced eye, this was no ordinary wound. The arrow was a broad-bladed hunter's arrow that left a long vertical cut just to the right of his spine. At the very bottom edge of the cut, directly behind Percy's navel, the base of the arrow's tip could be seen just above the skin. A network of inky black and green tendrils spiked out from where the blade had barely grazed the skin.

All of Reyna's queasiness vanished in wonder at the implications of what they saw. She and Bobby looked at each other for several moments across Percy's festering back. The wound itself would not have been fatal. It wasn't very deep as it had caught on the boy's ribs. A healthy dose of nectar and ambrosia and a couple weeks' rest would have healed it completely…normally.

"Well, at least it isn't buried deep." Bobby was able to set aside the strangeness quicker than Reyna as he set to work removing the silver weapon. Though she was no medic, she knew it was extremely lucky that the blade had not penetrated beyond the sweep of the arrowhead. "He must drink his milk. The force of that arrow would have broken through most people's bones. This one's just stuck." With all the dignity of a redneck in a strip club, Bobby grasped the shaft of the arrow and yanked. Reyna's bile threatened again with the grinding noise followed by a loud squelch as the arrow dislodged from Percy's ribs. He tossed the arrow over his shoulder as they both returned their attention to the creeping decay spreading across Percy's back.

"It can't be…"

"What else could it be, Rey?" She noticed Bobby's breathing was ragged, voice weak.

"Maybe it's poison."

"Then why is it only emanating from one spot? Why not from the whole wound?" Bobby rationalized. "Besides, I doubt the Hunters would stoop to using poison tipped arrows." Diana's Hunters, well that explained who the girls were at least, though not why the burly mannish one wanted Reyna dead. A brief glance showed her the silver-clad yeti had recovered slightly from her initial shock, but still remained planted where she was.

"I don't know, Bobby! There's got to be a better explanation."

"Why is it so hard for you to believe?"

"Because he's still alive!" The conviction in her voice appeared to startle Bobby. "I still don't think it's possible for a grown person to survive the curse, and even if he did, if that arrow just happened—"

"He did." Reyna looked around for the squeak of a voice that had interrupted her argument. Incredulous, she realized the small sound had come from her large-boned attacker. She turned the full force of her most formidable ice blue gaze on the silver-clad huntress. The girl returned her glare with a look of disgust before she grudgingly continued. "And you're right; he should either be unharmed or dead. That he is anywhere in between should be impossible."

"Oh, thank you," Reyna gushed sarcastically. "It's so nice to be vindicated by a psychopathic she-male." She made a show of looking the girl up and down before continuing, "Not too hard to see why _you_ joined the Hunters."

"Mee-yow!" Bobby interjected. Reyna turned her seething gaze on him and was happy to see at least he still blanched at her stare. "Alright, calm down, Rey. I'm sure Phoebe has a perfectly good—well, at least _some_ sort of explanation about the whole wanting to murder you thing." He eagerly turned away to address this Phoebe girl. "Um, before you guys have your death-match, I don't suppose you have any nectar or ambrosia handy? I doubt it would do anything for whatever's going on with this wound, but at least we can close it up and stop the bleeding. Speaking of which, I could go with a little healing myself."

Reyna's eyes jerked towards Bobby's face as he mentioned healing. Somehow, despite the gory mess that was Percy Jackson lying in front of her, her mother's warnings about her choice and the magic it would entail had retreated. Now they renewed their assault on her mind, driving her to worry and wonder. Could she possibly have the power to heal this wound? It definitely seemed magical in origin, regardless of whether the Hunter was right or not. Maybe she would be able to drive whatever enchantment possessed Percy away allowing him to heal. But that wasn't really healing magic. And where was the life altering decision in that?

As the Hunters produced their godly foods, Reyna's eyes wandered, taking in the wilderness around them. Her gaze eventually fell on Percy's and her original destination. Ten yards up the slope, Phoenix had lain down fully next to the shattered black form of her mate. Starbuck was still alive, his breathing growing ever weaker as he stared into Phoenix' eyes. Was this her choice? Percy or Starbuck?

No, regardless of her personal feelings, Percy was too important to let die just to show that she could be selfless, especially if he really was the person he had boasted he was to Alkyoneus. No, if there were a choice involved in Percy's mortality, it would be no choice. Reyna's jaw tensed with anger as she realized her impotency over Percy's fate. Why should she waste her power healing a stupid unicorn? Why should he live while Percy dies?

"Rey? A-are you alright?" She whipped her eyes back to Bobby Smurf. At least that's what he looked like in the intense glow issuing from her luminescing sapphire eyes. His mouth hung open mid-chew through a bite of ambrosia. _How much power did mom give me?_ Looking back at the broken animal, she knew. _Just enough._

"I'm fine."

"And you wondered why I wanted to kill you. Damned traitor's spawn," Phoebe spat from where she was carefully pouring nectar over Percy's open laceration. Despite the threat, Reyna had never had the stomach to watch a wound close magically. It was a revolting process seeing the muscle and sinew knit squelchily back together. When it was done, an angry red scar laced up Percy's back, and the spreading putrescence was unabated. There was nothing she could do about that.

Again, anger at her helplessness overwhelmed her and the light in her eyes surged again. It grew even more intense as her thoughts shifted. _This is my choice_. Here was truly a test of her determination. All her life she'd put her needs and desires first, and when she could not achieve those goals, she settled for spite. She needed to cure Percy, not because he could save the world, but because she wanted him. But she had no power to do so. Yet not ten yards away lay a broken body she _could_ mend. She could choose to let the unicorn die out of spite against her ineffectiveness, or she could put her needs aside. She could focus on the power she did have and not on the power she wanted.

Deliberately, Reyna pushed herself to her feet. _Percy would want this_. She shuddered at how difficult it was to walk the ten paces to where Starbuck lay. _I really am fucked up._ A normal human being wouldn't be like this. She was a monster trying to change her stripes. _Well, mom said this wouldn't be easy. Must be tough to know your kid is a selfish, megalomaniacal bitch._ As she reached the unicorn, she knelt by his side. Her internal struggle had nearly extinguished the glow of power in her eyes, energy she would need for this task bound up in indecision.

Reaching out, Reyna placed her hand on the unicorn's flank. The instant she made contact, her doubts fled leaving her mind, if only for a moment, at peace with itself. In that moment of tranquility, she saw the path around the obstacle that had always blocked her from the magic of healing. She needed no spell to complete her task; she was using borrowed power after all. Regardless, she knew her mind was now and ever would be open to this magic. At least this time she wouldn't have to drain herself to perform it.

Reyna's eyes blazed as her mother's borrowed energy swelled. She heard Bobby and the Hunters gasp as the azure brilliance engulfed her. Through her touch, the glow began to transfer to the onyx unicorn until he also shimmered intensely. Then he screamed as his bones began to magically realign. She tried to dull the pain, but there was no help for it. Though she could now heal, she was no healer. Trivia dealt in magic not comfort. Magic was raw, unbridled and often painful. She grieved for Starbuck's suffering, but he was strong willed. He would survive.

Through the sorcery, Reyna saw the workings of the unicorn's body in a detached manner, almost like she was building a puzzle. Albeit the most complex puzzle she'd ever seen. Every piece fit together seamlessly such that as she proceeded she began to wonder whether what she had fixed before had ever really been broken.

Eventually, the welling of power receded and Reyna's task was complete. There were damages she could not heal. Several of Starbuck's internal injuries had left scar tissue that would pain him for the rest of his life. And she could not restore his broken horn nor his pride. But he would live. She removed her hand and looked up to the obsidian unicorn's eyes. She couldn't read his thoughts like Bobby, but his refusal to meet Reyna's gaze told her volumes about his injured honor. It was a feeling she understood well.

A humbled woman knelt on the hill next to the prideful unicorn she'd just saved. Reyna shook her head at the thought. She was a little girl again and she'd been given another chance to grow up. In the moment she'd connected with Starbuck's broken body, she'd glimpsed what her life could be like if she let go of her pain, guilt and hatred. Those cares and fears were flooding back into her mind now, but at least she knew there was a way out. The opportunity she received was undeserved. It was a gift and she intended to cherish it dearly. But first there was another matter.

"Yes, actually, I would very much like to know what the death at first sight business is all about." Reyna spoke softly, back still turned on the Hunters, but in the pregnant silence that followed the unicorn's salvation, her voice rang like a gong. Turning slightly so she could just see Phoebe in her peripheral vision, she continued, "When did Lady Diana begin sanctioning the hunt of human flesh?"

"Ugh, not only are you a daughter of that spineless wench, but you're Roman too? This day just cannot get any better." Phoebe threw up her hands helplessly as she pushed herself to her feet. Reyna noticed several of the other Hunter's took on a slight psychotic glint at Phoebe's mention of Romans. The big girl turned to the others, "Go, follow the giant and deal with him once he is outside this valley. Then return the sacred cattle to the Triple G ranch and head to Camp Half-Blood. Now that we have found our quarry, I will escort him and these…people there as well.

"Alright, you two on your feet," Phoebe continued as the Hunters saluted and ran off through the woods to the north following the cattle and Ali. "We need to get Percy home—"

"_We_ are not going anywhere with you," Reyna interrupted, clearly distinguishing herself, Bobby and Percy from Phoebe with a gesture. "Not until we get some answers."

"Girly, let me give you some advice," the beefy girl menaced, stepping closer to Reyna. She poked herself in the chest to emphasize her point, "Don't _fuck _with Phoebe."

"Or what? You'll sit on me?" Reyna scoffed, looking the brawny Hunter over again. It was a mistake. Phoebe's eyes flashed murderously as she reached down to grab the front of Reyna's jacket. With seemingly no effort, she was lifted off her feet and flung a good twenty yards down the sloping ridgeline. Stars swam in her eyes as Reyna's breath whooshed from her lungs upon impact with the tree. She slumped to the ground on hands and knees trying to clear her head enough to form a retaliatory spell. There was no doubt the Hunter had used magical aid to throw Reyna so far. The incantation died on her lips as a peal of thunder crashed through the sky. Thunder on a sunny morning could mean only one thing. The king of the gods was pissed.

Raising her gaze back up the slope from where she'd been summarily tossed, Reyna saw Phoebe on her knees, head and arms raised in supplication. Her eyes were full of fear. Whatever the girl had done was not sitting well with Jupiter. The thunder god had never shown any interest in Reyna before, why was he intervening on her behalf now?

"Lord Zeus, please— I'm sorry! I didn't—" The hefty Amazon paused her pleading as lighting crackled and struck the ground less than three feet from her face. It left a crater and both Bobby and Percy's limp form were blown back several feet. Phoebe was somehow unaffected by the shockwave other than a change in demeanor. Her head slumped in resignation as her hands dropped to her sides. "Yes, my lord."

Slowly, Reyna lifted herself off the ground. She had no idea what had passed between the Hunter and lord Jupiter, but the immediate threat to her life seemed to have abated. Phoebe remained kneeling in a dejected slump as Reyna trudged gingerly back up to where Percy and Bobby lay. She saw Bobby blinking his eyes and waving a hand in front of them. He must have been looking directly at the lightning. Reyna shook her head and turned back to Phoebe who seemed to be contemplating suicide.

"You just cost me another millennium of servitude." She spoke so quietly, it took Reyna a moment to realize she was being addressed. She had no idea what Phoebe was talking about, but it seemed a pretty unfair accusation. "As if it mattered," she laughed bitterly. "I'm never getting out of this slavery."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but don't blame me for your loose cannon." If Reyna thought the thunder god's punishment had somehow diminished Phoebe's hatred, she was sorely mistaken. The silvery fire burning the Hunter's eyes as she lifted her head spoke of a power Reyna had only seen once before. Her footing faltered as she backed away from those eyes, fear spiking in her gut as she remembered the brutality of last summer's battle on Mt. Othrys. "Wh-who are you?"

Phoebe clenched her fists at her sides, her face tense. Rather than raise further alarms, Reyna understood the girl was trying desperately to quell the power she'd called forth in anger. With effort, she managed to close her eyes. Slowly the energy seemed to recede back into the recesses of her being, whatever her 'being' was.

"No one," she eventually responded doggedly. "Not anymore, at any rate." She paused and fixed her eyes on Reyna again. They were still stern, but now shone with the blackness of a moonless night.

"Not good enough." Reyna's hand had migrated to the hilt of her gladius, her knees bent, ready to move if necessary. This girl was not what she seemed.

"What would it accomplish? Other than even more mistrust, that is." She stood and brushed the dirt from her knees before continuing. "We need to go. Percy will not last long as he is."

"I told you before, there is no way we are going anywhere with you. Not until we know who or what you are," Reyna bristled.

"Rey, calm down." Reyna's world had shrunk to her and Phoebe, and Bobby's intrusion startled her. "She's right about Percy. He needs help."

"So you just want to go with her? She's the one who shot him in the first place!"

"She also saved us from the giant," Bobby pointed out equivocally.

"Bobby, at best she's a psychopath. She tried to kill me! Twice! And I don't even know who the fuck she is." Reyna knew she was prone to paranoia, but she was pretty sure her trepidation was justified this time around. She rounded back on Phoebe, "And how the hell do you know Percy, anyway?" The question caught the Hunter off guard and shocked her into finally giving an answer.

"He is Percy Jackson, son of Poseidon, " she responded simply. "You must know at least that much from traveling with him."

"Enlighten us," Reyna said flatly.

"He's the savior of Olympus. He defeated Kronos. Personally, I haven't had much interaction with him, but he's a boy, so…" Reyna's hackles rose again as she spoke. Most of the time when people talked about the fall of Saturn last summer it was with relief or glee. Phoebe's voice was filled with regret and sadness as she spoke Kronos' name.

"There were no demigods at Olympus last summer. We were forbidden to go. The gods defeated Typhon and Saturn." At least that's what they'd been told. Something about the matter-of-factness in Phoebe's explanation told Reyna she wasn't lying though. "Lupa would have told us otherwise."

"Ha! That old wolf?" Phoebe's eyes twinkled with amusement. "You're right, she _would_ have told you if she could. That one always did enjoy pain, especially everyone else's. Oh my stars, that would have been an epic battle if she could have sent you all to Olympus." She stared off into the trees wistfully and sighed. "Alas, she's bound by Stygian oaths that keep her from revealing what really happened."

"And you're not?"

"Nope, the gods forgot about little old me 150 years ago. I would have divulged sooner, but I confess, I've grown fond of Artemis during my servitude. She has a wonderful outlook on the subject of men. Informing the demigod factions about each other would have upset her. Plus it didn't really serve much purpose until recently."

"Wait, wait," Bobby interrupted. "What do you mean 'demigod factions'? And why do you keep using Greek names?"

"Look, I've been around a long time, and the Greeks came first," Phoebe explained. "Old habits die hard, but that's not the only reason. And when I say factions, I mean the Greek faction and the Roman faction."

"The Greeks are dead."

"Well, one of them certainly will be if we don't get him some help soon." Phoebe gestured to where Percy lay. This was the second time someone had called Percy a Greek. Somehow it seemed even less believable than him bearing the curse of Achilles. None of this made any sense, except that they were certainly wasting time. She needed straight answers.

"Okay, okay. You're right that Percy needs help," Reyna admitted. But we need to know who you are and why you want me dead before we let you take him or us anywhere. Plus we're kind of on a deadline here. If we don't complete our quest in five days, he's dead anyway." Phoebe's face darkened, all the mirth she'd expressed informing them their ancient enemies still lived vanishing.

"What are you playing at, Trivian? What's your quest? What does Percy's life have to do with it?" For some reason, the Hunter's smug confidence seemed shaken.

"Nuh-uh, you answer my question first."

"Gyahh! It's not that simple!" A glimmer of her former rage shone in her eyes momentarily and she paced in indecision. Suddenly she stopped. "I'm not bound to keep my identity from anyone, but I've never told anyone who didn't already know. I would ask that, if I tell you, you swear by the Styx not to reveal it to anyone else. The offspring of Hekate, or Trivia I suppose, are driven to obtain power, and the knowledge of who I am would grant you much. I won't be used by you." As she spoke, Trivia's warning floated to the front of Reyna's mind. _A relation of mine is approaching_, she'd said. Looking again at Phoebe, she knew exactly in whose presence she stood.

"Stop, I know who you are." Reyna smirked at the look of horror plastered on the Hunter's face. "Not a very clever disguise though. You didn't even change your name." Phoebe looked crestfallen as her secret was laid bare. "Relax, I won't tell anyone. Neither will Bobby. Right, Bobby?"

"Um, hard to tell what I don't fuckin' know."

"Exactly."

"Will you swear on the Styx?" Phoebe's voice was desperate.

"Yes, I will do that for you, if you will swear not to try to kill me, which by the way still requires some explanation."

"I swear you shall not suffer death at my hands, and furthermore that you will reach Percy's home safely and on time." It was hard to find through the clench-jawed oath, but there might have been some gratitude in Phoebe's voice. "Now what is this quest you are on? Was there a prophecy?"

As Reyna related the prophecy, she was able to check of a few of the items on the list. They'd traveled to the fiery paradise and Bobby, the fertile virgin, had delivered the crucial strike to fell the undying giant. All that was left was to find whatever Nature's Bounty was and something about royal fiends. Hadn't they just faced a giant king? He was pretty damned fiendish. But something told Reyna the line referred to something else.

When she finished with the last couplet, warning Reyna to guard her feelings for Percy, Phoebe saw right through the poetry and sneered. Being a Hunter for so long had obviously rubbed off on her sensibilities. Mid-sneer though, the bulky girl froze. She flicked her gaze back and forth between Reyna and Percy's supine form. A look of incredulity mixed with glee stole over her face as she unexpectedly burst into gales of laughter.

"Oh, this is _fantastic!_" she cried, clapping her hands excitedly. "Blue Eyes," Phoebe, Titan of the Moon, addressed Reyna with a dazzling smile, "you're gonna wish like hell you'd let _me_ kill you by the time Annabeth's done with you."


	26. Chapter 26 Reyna

**A/N: Thanks again to my kick-ass beta, _iscreamdrizzle._ Without her guidance, there would have been a truly awful paragraph in this chapter. I'm not kidding; you would have punched me right in the mouth.**

**So it's good news/bad news time, readers. Bad news first: This story is coming to a close at chapter 30. I know, it's very sad. Wanna know the good news? See you at the end of the chapter, Enjoy!**

* * *

_Chapter 26_

_Reyna_

The late morning sun waned in its brilliance. All around her, the world diminished. The mutterings of the angry squirrel faded into minor annoyance, while the chirruping of the cardinal blared in her mind with a flare of jealousy. He'd found his perfect partner while yet another candidate for hers slipped ever further away. Reyna was grateful when an errant cloud passed over the sun, dimming the luminosity of the reflecting snow around her. Such brightness did not belong.

_Annabeth._ It didn't take a PhD to figure out who this girl was. Her existence had been tolerable when she was merely a set of stormy grey eyes. Putting an actual name to the image, however, conjured up all sorts of disheartening scenarios. Her name sounded Southern, did she have an accent? Was she one of those insufferably polite debutants?

No, she was a daughter of Minerva, or _Athena_ or whatever, or at least so Reyna assumed. None of the Minerva kids in LARD had suffered from an overabundance of tact. Even little Serah tended to be an abrasive know-it-all from time to time, something her older siblings had perfected. There was no reason to think this Annabeth girl was any different. Besides, something about those eyes—even in a vision—told Reyna she wasn't one to take any shit. The more she thought about it, the more Phoebe's gleeful prediction rang true.

Even more irritating, the displaced Titan seemed to relish the effect her proclamation was having on Reyna. She did her best to push the jealousy away with rational arguments and logic. This really was not the time to dwell on Percy's emotional availability, especially since if they didn't move quickly, he would no longer _have_ any emotions. She also told herself, this was her next step on the road towards being an actual human being. She would rather him be alive and taken than hers and dead. The jealousy was stubborn though, and despite Reyna's best efforts, she couldn't banish it completely from her mind. It had abated to the point where she could actually speak though, and she took a deep breath to help form clear thoughts.

"I'm sure I will." Reyna's voice still cracked as she spoke. Cursing herself silently, she continued, "Right now though, we need to get Percy some help." Phoebe's face sobered as the somber reality struck home once again.

"Yes we do. In fact, we need Annabeth's help," she added with a jibing smirk. "We have to get to New York as quickly as possible."

"Whoa!" Bobby interjected. "New York? We can't go to New York! Bad shit happens to demigods who go there uninvited."

"Bad shit happens to _Roman _demigods who go to New York. Just like Greek demigods are discouraged from living in or traveling to San Francisco." Phoebe explained with exaggerated slowness. "That's why Percy and his friends took care of Olympus last summer while you and your guy, James, Jacob, Jack…I don't know, Thalia's brother. Anyway, that's why you guys dealt with Othrys."

"Jason…" Reyna responded weakly.

"That's the one!" Phoebe snapped her fingers.

"Who's Thalia?" Reyna had skipped right over that information in learning that Phoebe also knew Jason. She'd come to grips with the fact that she didn't have true feelings for the son of Jupiter, but the self-induced infatuation exerted itself over her emotions again at the sudden thought of him. Bobby's question jolted her out of her fake reverie. Jason had never said he had a sister; he'd never said anything about his family, actually.

"Thalia is Artemis' first lieutenant." Reyna noticed quite a bit of resentment flowing through the Titan's voice. "She's a daughter of Zeus…that no good backstabbing son of a—" she added under her breath before stopping herself. It was nice to know, the Hunter held grudges against other gods as well. "Look, can we continue the 20 questions while we walk? We really should be going."

"Why walk, we have unicorns?" Bobby pointed out.

"Oh no," Phoebe shook her head, hands waving in front of her. "Unicorns and I don't mix. Besides, they aren't fast enough to get us all the way across country in a day. We need air transport."

"Um, one problem, we're kind of in the middle of Bumfuck, Wyoming," Bobby retorted defensively. Reyna could see the idea of leaving the unicorns behind did not sit well with the son of Fauna. He'd known them for less than a week, and already they were his best friends. "I don't see any airplanes or pegasi hanging around, do you?"

"Look, Manimal, no need to get snarky," Phoebe threw back. "Neither are fast enough either. Pegasi are too slow in general, and airplanes, well, those stupid security checks take too fucking long. Besides, this one," she jabbed a finger at Percy's unconscious form, "can't go by plane."

"Then how the hell are we supposed to get there?"

"Relax, Blue Eyes. Phoebe's got it covered." The Hunter's haughtiness was grating on Reyna's nerves. _Well, she's a Titan, I guess it just runs in the family._ "I saw some tracks during the fight that should lead us straight to our rides. The hard part will be convincing them to help." She turned towards Bobby with a slightly disdainful expression. "I hope you can be persuasive, Virgin Boy, we're gonna need your wildlife skills."

Bobby was still tender from his broken ribs, so Reyna and Phoebe hoisted Percy onto Starbuck's back. Apparently, there was some serious debate among the unicorns as to who would carry the comatose demigod. Reyna would have assumed Phoenix would be the logical choice, but Starbuck would not harbor such suggestions. The argument was abstracted through Bobby's translation, but Reyna understood the black unicorn's sense of pride and duty. Alabaster still hadn't returned from chasing the sun cattle out of the geyser valley,though Bobby assured them the other unicorns could contact her as to their location as they moved.

As Reyna gripped Percy's limp body under his arms, his unmistakable sea salt scent washed over her, but it did not overtake her senses with its usual allure. Whereas normally he smelled like a fresh morning breeze off a turbulent vivacious sea, the brine now evinced the stagnation of a harbor festering in the late summer heat. She assumed most of the change arose from the growing mortification of the wound on his back, but she couldn't deny the sinking feeling her newfound sense of candor imposed.

It was completely hypocritical, but knowing for certain there was another girl tainted Percy. He wasn't her sweet, innocent, bumbling Percy anymore. He was worldly and accomplished with the spoils of war, this Annabeth, to show for it. The emotion washing over Reyna was definitely jealousy, but not as she'd ever known it. Envy had always arrived with fire and a surge of strength to rectify the undesirable situation. Now her veins filled with ice, and all she wanted to do was run and hide. There was no winning this fight, especially if Bobby was right and Annabeth was Percy's tie to mortality.

With a sigh, Reyna gently slung Percy facedown across the kneeling Starbuck's back. Phoenix was given a reprieve as they threaded their way through the forest back to the quester's discarded packs. Phoebe led the way with Reyna and Bobby flanking Starbuck to hold Percy in place, while Phoenix brought up the rear. Despite the Hunter's suggestion that they talk in transit, they walked in silence until Reyna saw something fall from Percy's pocket. She stooped to retrieve the object and came up with Percy's pen-sword.

"Where did that come from?" Bobby asked incredulously when he saw the weapon in Reyna's hand. "I thought he lost it in Gigantor's face."

"I just fell out of his pocket," she replied not sure what other explanation she could give. She'd still been unconscious during Percy's fight with Alkyoneus. "Well, he won't need it anytime soon—"

"Give it to me." Phoebe's voice was oddly gentle, her words a request rather than a demand. Taken aback by the odd show of emotion from the Titan, Reyna posted no objection and deposited the pen into the girl's beefy hand. She watched as Phoebe tenderly removed the cap, the sword extending to its full three foot length. "Zoe…"

In that moment, it was easy to forget who Phoebe actually was. Her shoulders slumped, losing their haughty stiffness, and her head bowed. She uttered the name with a voice full of sadness and longing. Reyna sensed a depth of loss that she, in her mere 16 years of life, could never begin to understand. She watched the Hunter lose herself in memories reflected in the sunlight shimmering along the bronze blade until urgency intruded itself.

"Who is Zoe?" Phoebe blinked in surprise at the question, obviously startled back into the reality that she was not actually alone. Shaking her head, she took a deep breath before responding.

"Zoe Nightshade was the Hunter's first lieutenant before Thalia," she sighed. "She was also my favorite cousin." Reyna's eyes widened in astonishment, and she opened her mouth to speak, forgetting Bobby still remained blissfully clueless as to Phoebe's true identity. Luckily, the Hunter cut her off, already aware of her inevitable question. "No, she wasn't. But we were together for a long time." She trailed off, obviously not willing to divulge more than necessary, but she gave Reyna a look that left the discussion open for a more private setting. Reyna would have been shocked at the sense of camaraderie bestowed by such an invitation, but she noticed a brief flash of silvery fire whisk through Phoebe's eyes as they locked with her own. Something told Reyna this forthcoming conversation would have much to do with the erstwhile Titan's animosity towards her.

"What does your cousin have to do with Percy's sword?" Bobby interposed, completely oblivious to the girls' interplay. Despite Reyna's enlightenment, she agreed it was a fair question.

"It was hers once, a long time ago," Phoebe responded softly. "Her greatest treasure…and her greatest mistake. The Hunters of Artemis are noteworthy for their purity. Not all of us were always so…innocent." She leveled another meaningful gaze at Reyna before briskly capping the sword and resuming their trek. The raven-haired sorceress stood rooted for a several moments watching the large Hunter stride away and recalling her first encounter with a being of purity. She'd wanted to die then, to escape. Now all she wanted was to live. Maybe she was growing up after all.

They traveled in silence for a few more minutes until they reached their packs. Since they were all walking, Bobby strapped all three bags to Phoenix. Reyna gathered there had been another argument. Again Starbuck's pride seemed to be blinding him to practicality. Apparently, the thought of his mate, or wife or whatever, being used as a pack mule was highly offensive. Phoenix won out though, of course. Reyna's mind was becoming more accustomed to the idea of wedded unicorns. They certainly acted like they were married.

Still lost in her own memories, Phoebe set off without preamble, leading them resolutely northeast. To Reyna's unpracticed eye it seemed like the Hunter had been lying about seeing the tracks of some animal that could fly faster than pegasi. Rather she marched at a brisk unwavering pace as if she knew exactly where these creatures were. Sparing a glance at Bobby, who was by far LARD's best hunter, Reyna broke into a grin. He was staring at Phoebe's broad back, eyes wide and slack jawed in wonderment.

"She's amazing…" he gasped. Her grin turned brittle at Bobby's praise. Regardless of Reyna's attempts to better herself, her friend's adoration of this girl still rankled. The gorilla _had_ tried to kill her not an hour ago, after all. _Easy, Rey, easy. Impotent immortals are the least of your worries, remember? _As they proceeded, Reyna began to pick up on the subtle indications that Phoebe was actually ferreting out signs and clues and not just using Titan powers to telelocate their destination. Grudgingly, she had to agree with Bobby's assessment, she was damned good.

Though she seemed to be walking normally, Reyna caught Phoebe's fingers brushing lightly against every bush and tree trunk they passed. She never resorted to caressing the bark or fingering a leaf, merely a butterfly's diaphanous touch was enough. It was an elegance of efficiency that was surprising from such a large frame. The grace was not limited to Phoebe's hands, however. Reyna became acutely aware that each step was carefully placed and somehow never left a mark of its own. Occasionally, her booted feet would mimic her sensory fingers, sweeping minimally against a downed log or clump of underbrush. The only evidence of Phoebe's passing were slight eddies of dust illuminated by the winter sunlight.

"What are you looking for?" Reyna asked, curiosity finally piqued. She could see what Phoebe was doing, but not how it benefited their search.

"Not looking. Smelling." Bobby, who still hadn't picked his jaw off the forest floor, finally scoffed at this notion.

"No way! No one's _that_ good. I mean, maybe with spores or dung. But I haven't seen any of that, at least, not from an animal big enough to fly us to New York."

"Spores and dung…if that's the extent of your skill maybe you should consider a different profession." Phoebe stopped and rounded on Bobby with a raised eyebrow. "How long have you been hunting, Wildman? Let me know when it's been 3 millennia, _then_ we'll talk about what's possible and what's not." She turned and resumed her dance leaving Bobby with a comical scowl plastered across his face. Watching him recover his hurt pride, Reyna noticed a sense of weariness weighing down his wiry frame. He carried the lion's share of the soul-bearing, having to support the complexities of Hazel's life force, but there was a haunted look in his brown eyes that she hadn't noticed before.

"You want to talk about it?" At first, Bobby gave no indication he'd heard Reyna's overture, but his scowl melted with sigh as he turned his dispirited gaze to her.

"Talk about what?" he replied automatically as though it was a required response. Reyna gave him a level stare. She didn't know what was bothering him exactly, but it was definitely eating him up inside. Finally, his eyes backed down from her glare, and he watched his feet for a few moments. Quietly, he eventually spoke, "It's awful."

"What's awful?"

"This…_soul-melding_ or whatever you call it. It fucking blows." Reyna couldn't believe what she was hearing. From her, it would have sounded plausible, but Bobby had always had a fierce sense of loyalty and selflessness. Not like Percy's, which was seemingly indiscriminate, but to hear him complain about his own pain at the expense of Hazel's life was beyond shocking. Her astonishment must have been written plain on her face because his ire rose, "You don't know what it's like, Rey. You just cast the spell; you don't have to live it."

"Lest you forget, you _asked_ for my help," she retorted. "I did the best I could."

"Well, it wasn't good enough!"

"What the fuck did you want me to do Bobby? I was up against a _god_. _A god_, Bobby!"

"You could have healed them first!" he shouted.

"Bobby, you know—"

"Don't give me that shit, Rey!" Bobby interrupted dangerously. "What the fuck do you call what you just did to Starbuck, huh?" She finally understood some of his resentment, but there was still something he wasn't telling her.

"Bobby, a week ago, I couldn't have healed a hangnail," Reyna implored, "and even if I had the power, it wouldn't have worked on Hazel and Roulette. You know that, Bobby. They're both stable now, for a little while at—"

"Bull _shit_, they're stable!" They'd stopped walking at this point, and even Phoebe had paused to watch their argument, a mildly intrigued expression gracing her horsey visage. "Don't you get it, Rey? What, you think I'm complaining because I carry Hazel's final shot at life? I would carry her to the underworld and back a thousand times."

"Ugh, men," Phoebe exasperated.

"I don't care about my burden, Rey," Bobby continued, ignoring the Hunter's commentary. "It's hers! Her soul is shattered, it cries out continually in pain."

"No, no that shouldn't be possible," Reyna stuttered in disbelief. "She's supposed to be completely dormant. She shouldn't feel anything, unless…" She trailed off thinking about the intricacies of the spell she'd woven. There was only one loophole. "Bobby, what the hell did you do?"

"I didn't—well, nothing!" he defended though his indignation receded. "Not really. I—I was just curious."

"You couldn't keep it in your pants, could you?"

"Really?" Bobby rejoined drily with a pointed glance at Percy's prone form. Reyna flushed with embarrassment at her own hypocrisy, but her argument was still valid to a point.

"Why couldn't you leave her alone, Bobby?" she pleaded. "You ignored her for years, what was two more weeks? She would have been fine and completely unaware that anything was wrong. If we had succeeded, she would have just woken up, probably with a massive headache, but otherwise none the wiser. Now she'll be crippled by the pain, probably for years to come. Can you live with that?"

"And if we don't?"

"If we don't what?"

"Succeed."

"You already know the answer to that, Bobby," she sighed. "And since that seems the more likely scenario at the moment, you get to live the last week of your life knowing you made Hazel's a nightmare." He bowed his head and said nothing. Eventually, Reyna's line softened as she watched him torture himself. "Look Bobby, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be so hard on you. I guess I'm just a bit stressed out; this quest hasn't exactly been all kittens and candy, you know? I thought…" She trailed off, unused to the heart pouring apology thing.

"You thought what?"

"Well, I hoped we'd find what we needed coming here," she confessed. "I mean, Yellowstone was the only lead we had, and now we're here, monster vanquished and nothing. We still have no idea what we need to cure Roulette and Hazel. And now Percy…if he dies it won't matter if find the cure; we're all dead anyway. On top of that you tell me you opened your link, and I guess—I guess it just broke the camel's back."

"Why didn't you tell me it was an empathy link?" Bobby's anger was completely dissolved, his voice full of only sorrow and weariness.

"Because you would have done something stupid like this," she replied cynically. "And it's not. Not really. The core spell is similar, but an empathy link only connects emotions. Soul sharing melds everything: emotions, thoughts, senses, even bodies if you want...don't even think about it. It's much more intimate and dangerous, but it was all I could use. I hoped if their souls were dormant, you and Percy could get through two weeks without much trouble. Now that you woke Hazel's consciousness, there's nothing I can do. It's your battle now."

"Fine, I'll make her as comfortable as possible," Bobby sighed. "But we are _not_ failing this fuckhole of a quest. I've got a serious apology to give, and I'll be damned if I give it on the Fields of Asphodel, literally. So let's figure this shit out." He turned and looked at Phoebe. "Alright, you're the only thing we got out of this trip to Yellowstone, so what do you know?" Reyna stared at Bobby, dumbstruck at her stupidity. Slowly she turned to look at the silver-clad Hunter. Phoebe had a smug smirk spread across her face as she looked at Bobby.

"You see why I don't trust sorcerers? They have all this power just given to them, but they never stop to use their brains. Always thinking with their wands." It wasn't the real reason, but Reyna gave the Titan props for the impromptu explanation for Bobby's benefit. For her it was just another dig. Phoebe shook her head when neither Reyna nor Bobby rose to her jibes. "Come on, we need to get moving if we want a ride before sundown. I know what you need, but you're probably not going to like it."

"Why?"

"Well, I'm no expert, but Thalia tells me Peleus doesn't really like people stealing his stuff."

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**Good News: Sequel**


	27. Chapter 27 Bobby

**A/N: Thanks once again to my awesome beta,_ iscreamdrizzle_. She somehow managed to find time in her hellish schedule to help me retool this chapter into the product you see below. It took a lot of work, but hopefully it's up to snuff. **

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_Chapter 27_

_Bobby_

Awkward. It was an understatement, but there really was no stronger way to describe the situation, unless you stepped it up to 'awkward as fuck.' The deep amber eyes filled with the cold pain of the betrayed were bad enough without the two foot spiral horn perched dangerously on his chest. Pinned against a tree, he had no escape, not that he would back away from this confrontation anyway. Bobby raised his hands in protest as he faced down his attacker. "Look, it's not my fault!"

Luckily, Phoebe had asked him to wait with the unicorns while she dragged Reyna off to scout further ahead. Ali had arrived several minutes ago with the happy news that the giant had been eliminated by the Hunters Phoebe sent ahead. Apparently, they'd had little trouble turning the unconscious monster to dust once the cows had dragged him outside the valley, though the ladies had been somewhat displeased with the task of being cowgirls to the enormous cattle herd. Unfortunately, Starbuck had just informed the ivory unicorn of their current mission. The news was not going over very well.

"Ali, I'm sorry! What was I supposed to do?"

_You could have said no!_ She dug the point of her horn uncomfortably deep into his torso.

"Percy's dying! We don't have a choice." It was a weak argument, since Bobby himself was less than enamored with the salty soldier at the moment. He didn't normally like to lay blame at anyone's feet but the gods, but it was hard not to place Percy at the center of this spider web.

Why did he have to step in front of that stupid arrow? It wouldn't even have killed Reyna. Despite her rage, or perhaps because of it, Phoebe's shot had been too low to be fatal, except to stupid Percy. On top of his selfless heroics, the goofy fucktard had managed to get Starbuck nearly killed as well. With both fatally injured, he had forced Reyna to choose. While Bobby was grateful at her choice to heal the onyx unicorn, it left them in the predicament of finding alternative means of transportation. It was only resentment at turning away from his friends that forced his mind to these thoughts, so he tried to shake them off.

_There is always a choice._ Her callousness wasn't genuine. Even after only a few days together, Bobby knew his friend's lack of compassion was merely a product of denial rather than actual disregard. As much as he hated doing it, tough love was in order.

"Could you get us to New York and back in less than five days? Honestly?" Her eyes narrowed menacingly, but she didn't respond. "We've been traveling together for four days already and we're only in Wyoming," he continued mercilessly. She didn't loosen her stance, but the long silence told him she didn't have an answer she liked.

_Do you even know what this Hunter is looking for?_ Bobby knew he'd won, at least that argument, though it left a sour taste in his mouth.

"Not really, no. She won't tell me anything, just that she's sniffing out a trail. Something that flies faster than a pegasus." Several moments of tense silence passed until finally Ali relented and pulled her horn away. Bobby slid to the ground slowly upon his release, though any relief was short-lived as his distress recoiled across Hazel's soul-link. It nearly broke his heart to feel her concern echoing through his mind. How someone in so much pain could spare thoughts for someone else's misery was beyond him. Knowing what the spell actually was should have made it easier to control these emotional transfers, but his general lack of magical understanding along with a masochistic sense of curiosity led him in the opposite direction. Suppressing both, as he had been all afternoon, he returned his focus to the problem at hand.

_I think the better question, Lord, is who, or what, exactly is the Hunter?_ Phoenix had been keeping quiet for the most part, content to support her husband in silence. The question had been nagging at Bobby as well, but he'd resigned the answer to the bin of shit he'd just have to live without. Phoebe wasn't going to tell him, and Reyna had sworn a Stygian oath. That had been a surprise considering the level of animosity between the girls, or at least from Phoebe towards Reyna. Whatever Rey had figured out must have been astonishing enough to shock her into the vow. And though it piqued Bobby's curiosity, he wasn't reckless enough to pursue the issue.

"At this point, I don't really care."

_So you will just discard us here? You will simply doom us to extinction?_ Despite Bobby's arguments, Ali still wasn't ready to accept the inevitable.

"I was supposed to lead you _to_ your doom, remember?" Bobby rejoined testily. "If anything, shouldn't you all be rejoicing in me leaving? You'll all live a hell of a lot longer."

_Our doom was not to be death! _Starbuck's thought crashed through his mind with a forceful throb. _Abandon us, Wild One, and it certainly will be._ Black eyes bored into his soul, laden with indictment. Percy's body shuddered with the shaking rage permeating the black unicorn.

Shifting his gaze from the no longer implied accusation, Bobby searched Ali for some form of understanding. Forgiveness was too much to hope for, but comprehension of his forced position would have been welcome. There was none. Arguing further on the subject would provide no more satisfaction, so he threw up his hands, hoisted himself from the ground and turned to walk away from the unreasoning unicorns. Or he would have, had he not spun straight into a wall of flesh.

"What the fuck?" Bobby stumbled backwards, catching his heel on a snaggled root, and toppling hard on his ass. His mind nearly exploded in a rush of wild energy, sending him into a brief moment of panic. Only one thing ever affected him like that. A shadow covered him as a female body stepped between his eyes and the sun. The figure stood in complete silhouette, late afternoon sunlight streaming around her.

"They're wrong." A collective gasp ran through the minds of the unicorns, and all three began to sink forward in a respectful genuflection. Starbuck halted his kneel as his cargo listed precariously. Rising slowly back to his hooves, he settled for a bowed head. Bobby, for his part, managed to gain a measure of control over his chaotic thoughts, and while he still had no fricking clue who exactly this goddess was, he did know his tailbone was seriously smarting from landing on a particularly sharp rock.

"Son of bitch, don't sneak up on people like that!" Based on the unicorns' reactions, he had reason to believe whoever stood before him was godly and addressing her thus was likely not very healthy. But his ass ached too much to bother with etiquette, and since when had he ever cared what the gods thought? Apparently this deity had a sense of humor, for she unexpectedly burst into peals of seductively infectious laughter.

Despite his affront, he ached to join her hilarity. The laugh was one of the most beautiful and inexplicable sounds Bobby had ever heard. It was infused with the hope of youthful spring and the mirth of careless summer, yet somehow it effortlessly mingled with the profound sadness of descending autumn and the chill fear of winter's darkness.

"I'm sorry; I do have a tendency to surprise people with my arrival…and my passing." The laughter still played through her voice as she spoke. He was temporarily blinded as she bent to lend him a supporting hand, the sun blasting out from behind the goddess of the new year's head. He'd never met Anna Perenna, but the context of her appearance precluded her being anyone else. Disarmed by her captivating laughter, he reached up carelessly to accept her proffered hand.

Before he could make the mistake of actually touching the goddess again, his mind exploded with the jumbled excitement of gushing unicorn voices. The silent cacophony roared through his thoughts like an avalanche. Bobby sat back under the mental onslaught as each animal offered their sycophantic praise and admiration with their fullest voices. The brief disorientation alerted him to the impending blunder of voluntarily touching a god. Shaking his head, he made to push himself off the ground. The goddess showed no outward objection to his denial of aid as she turned to the prostrated unicorns. "Be calm young ones. I'm happy to see you too."

_My Lady, it has been so long since you have come to us._ Starbuck, brusque and stoic Starbuck, quivered with giddiness as he addressed the goddess. Bobby imagined if there were sound involved in his voice, it would have cracked with his exuberance.

_Yes, My Lady, to what do we owe this honor? _Ali all but ruined the formality of her inquiry with the breathless squealing an adolescent girl meeting her favorite celebrity. Phoenix seemed to maintain her composure, but her silence arose more from catatonic excitement than any sense of decorum. As Bobby regained his footing and turned his attention fully to goddess, he felt an urge to return the ground, mimicking the unicorns' supplications.

She was a diety, so he expected a certain level of supra-human beauty, but the woman before him tore his breath away. She didn't have the exquisiteness of Venus, nor the grace of Diana. Instead she possessed a glowing warmth, the comforting knowledge that life would go on as it always had. Bobby's life had never been settled, always in between; he could lose himself in the inexorable stability Anna Perenna embodied. He'd never met a god he didn't hate, but unless she said something stupid, Bobby was prepared to give her the benefit of the doubt.

"Hush now. I think you won't be so excited to see me when I've said my piece." He knew it. Just once, he'd like a god to come down and say he'd won the lottery or something, no strings attached. But no, they just loved to fuck with him. She turned her warm brown eyes back to Bobby, and he saw sadness and pity run through them. "I know you're not terribly fond of my family."

"You can say that again," he replied under his breath. He knew she still heard him. His frequent dreamland visitors had made it abundantly clear that soft speech did not pose an issue for a god's aural facilities. The inflection did convey an excellent amount of emotion, however, which Bobby used to great effect as he watched a hint of steel flash across the goddess' face.

"Regardless of your inclinations towards us, _you _are quite popular on Olympus. You're somewhat of a curiosity, Robert Mallory."

"Don't call me Robert!" It wasn't as if some asshole were his namesake or anything; he hadn't been named after anyone. It was just a moniker slapped on him by the state; a constant reminder he belonged to no one. Ignoring the outraged protests from all three unicorns, he continued his assault. "It's been made abundantly clear just how fun I am for the gods to play with. They never leave me the fuck alone! And what do you mean I'm a 'curiosity'? You make me sound like a frickin' duck-billed platypus."

"You're certainly just as inexplicable, as much for your existence as how you've affected your mother." Any hopes that this goddess would garner his affection any more than the others flew out the window.

"Oh, that's rich," Bobby chortled mirthlessly. "My mother? Really? I can't imagine any effect I might have on her other than shame."

"You really don't know your mother then."

"No shit! I didn't even know who she was until a couple days ago! The goddess of women having a son, how could the irony not be shameful?" Bobby's righteous angst turned sour as Anna suddenly laughed again. It was difficult to hold on to anger and resentment in the onslaught of that time erasing delight.

Against his will, he found the desire to join her jollity nearly irresistible. The appeal to expel his years of pent up fury into frivolous glee tugged relentlessly at his heart. What the hell was happening to him? And why was he taking all this out on a deity who had nothing to do with his issues? He'd never even _met_ this goddess before, which in and of itself surprising since none of the other gods had been able to issue any kind of restraint on their desire to fuck with him.

"You are so much like your mother," Anna breathed through her giggles.

"So I'm a woman?"

"Um…" The goddess' mirth abated slightly as the implications of her remark were laid bare. "Well that's not _exactly_ what I meant. But in a sense, to be similar to the Bona Dea, is to possess a certain femininity." It was interesting to see a goddess flustered. Bobby's breath tightened as the beautiful woman before him blushed in embarrassment at her off-hand comment.

"You want a shovel?"

"Let's, uh, let's just move on, ok?" she stammered. "The nuances of your relationship with the gods is not why I'm here anyway."

"Of course it isn't," Bobby scoffed. "I'm sure you have some earth-shattering revelation all lined up, like 'Your father was actually a porcupine, which is why you're such a pain in the ass.'"

"Nothing quite so…crass, unfortunately." Despite her admonition, Bobby detected a stifled guffaw in her reply. Well at least this goddess had a normal sense of humor. "As I mentioned earlier, your friends are wrong."

"Wrong? About what?"

"Take your pick," Anna replied nonchalantly bringing a grudging grin to his lips. "But currently they are incorrect in their assumption that leaving them here would consign them to death. Rather, you must allow them to return."

_But, my Lady! I do not understand! _Ali's remonstration cut garishly across the goddess' dulcet tones. _If he leaves, how are we safe? You told us he would deliver us to our doom._ It still struck an odd chord that the unicorns actually _desired_ their so called doom, and that they loved him for presenting it. Bobby was pretty sure his first reaction upon seeing the person foretold to bring about some horrible personal destiny would be a knife in their throat.

"And so he shall," Anna mollified. "But you cannot accompany him beyond here. You all must return and prepare. The time has come to reveal yourselves. You must take Pearl to the Roman conclave."

_No! She is our hope! We must keep her safe!_ Stunned, Bobby's mouth dropped open involuntarily at Phoenix' forceful protest. Not only was she defying the command of their patron goddess, the sheer volume of her defensiveness was completely unexpected from the usually reticent female. Shifting his gaze back to Anna, a flash of steel cooled her erstwhile warm brown eyes.

"I do not have to explain myself to you, however, the hope you hold in the young one can only be realized if you do this." The goddess' stern voice wilted the defiant copper unicorn's fortifications, and after a tense moment, Phoenix bowed her head in defeat. Ali was not so easily swayed.

_How can we hold to hope if we reveal ourselves to humans who are deaf? How can we survive among them without Bobby?_ Pain surged through his heart at the level of trust he would betray in leaving these magnificent creatures to their fate among his brethren. He didn't really think they would hurt them, but the Legions would certainly not understand why a family of supposedly extinct unicorns was showing up on their doorstep to claim sanctuary.

"It is a dangerous prospect, however, you won't be without friends. I can't say anymore about it now." Anna Perenna turned her attention back to Bobby with a gentler expression. "Steel your heart, Bobby. You have a difficult task ahead, but should you succeed, have no doubts you will see your friends again. Now, I must go, your companions are returning to find you, and I cannot be here when they arrive."

"Why not?" It seemed like an innocent enough question, but Bobby watched the beautiful goddess flit through myriad emotions as she searched for an appropriate response. The sheer fact that he could affect her this way, made her nearly irresistible.

"It's—well, let's just say it's a lunar thing." _Lunar thing?_ Maybe it was one of those female issues he preferred to ignore. "Too many chiefs, not enough Indians, you know." _Um…no, not really._ He scrunched his face in confusion before giving it up with a wave of his hand.

"Whatever."

"The new world is upon you, and you must part ways." _More fucking riddles._ "Farewell."

"Yeah, yeah…thanks for all the good news." She giggled again as she flashed into the sunlight and was gone. The echo of her parting laughter rang wistfully in his mind for several seconds before he sighed.

_You must not do as she says._ Phoenix' firm renouncement met with incredulous stares from Bobby, Ali and Starbuck. Perhaps she wasn't as defeated as she'd acted. _She has always been the whimsical sort. Do not take her seriously._

"You're calling your patron goddess an airhead?" Bobby shook his head with a sigh. "She certainly seemed more…I don't know, _human_, than any other god I've met, but she was also pretty grounded."

_I agree, her words are not to be taken lightly. If she says we must part ways, that is what we will do,_ Starbuck affirmed earning a dangerous glare from his wife.

_I did not realize my husband was so weak as to fall prey to a pretty face and a giggle._ Thin ice was an understatement. Bobby felt torn between breaking up the ensuing domestic dispute and his own safety.

_Come now, she is our patron, we must show her respect._

_Respect? I am surprised you even understand the word!_ Phoenix was clearly itching for a fight, probably to distract her from the unpleasant thought of being left behind. Starbuck obviously sensed her intentions and threw them both off the deep end.

_Respect must be earned._ Bobby's jaw landed somewhere in Tartarus at the insult. Murder welled in Phoenix' eyes, and frankly he couldn't blame her.

_You are such an ass! Go on, then. Run back home and bray to the deaf humans. Please, go offer up our niece to the altar of your precious goddess' whims. I am sure as she lies dying and your hooves, you will find plenty of comfort in the knowledge you did as you were told. Who knows? Without your horn, maybe they will think you are simply a deformed horse._ If Percy hadn't been perched on his back, Starbuck might have actually lunged at his wife. Instead he advanced slowly as she tossed her mane defiantly.

_Stop_. Ali's interjection was soft and resigned. Bobby had noticed she seemed lost in her own thoughts throughout the marital brouhaha. Now she spoke with all the conviction of the beaten and downtrodden. She raised her head and looked at Bobby with sad but resolved eyes. _We will go, all of us. Both Anna and the Hunter are correct. We cannot hope to carry you swiftly enough to the foothills of Olympus, and I know the truth of the goddess' words in my soul._

_But Pearl—_

_Is my daughter._ She stared down Phoenix, forcing the bronze unicorn into capitulation. There was no acting involved this time, not under the force of the proud mother's piercing glare. _We cannot continue east, but we _can_ return west, gather November, Sunflower and Pearl, and arrive at the Roman fortifications before the New Year turns. I just hope you can make it back in time, Bobby._

"Finally," he replied with a soft wry smile. "I promise I will return in time. There's too much riding on it for me to fail. I just wish I knew what we were looking for—"

"You're about to find out, Beastmaster." Phoebe ghosted out of the woods, having returned soundlessly, and thoroughly scared the piss out of Bobby.

"Jesus! What the fuck is with you people!"

"You people?" the large Huntress menaced, her fists resting threateningly on her hips.

"Girls! Always fucking skulking around, scaring the bejesus out of people! That's what I mean!" Promptly countering his supposition on the stealthiness of females, several crashes and grunts issued from the forest behind Phoebe as Reyna stumbled out of the deep underbrush with a curse.

"Fucking bushes!" Bobby buried his face in both palms as the raven-haired sorceress righted herself. There was a haunted look in Reyna's eyes. He suspected the girls had had their own revealing conversation on their woodland excursion.

"Oh yeah, we're sooo sneaky," Phoebe responded drily. "Come on, the entrance is about a half-mile that way." She pointed into the woods in the direction from which they'd just arrived. Without a word she turned around and stalked off again leaving Reyna and him to follow. Bobby wondered why neither of them felt the need to ask why he'd fallen behind. They must have had _some_ conversation.

They marched silently through the dappled wash of afternoon sunlight following the path Phoebe carved in front of them. Reyna seemed lost in her own thoughts as was oft her state of late. Bobby suspected her current introspection was based more on recent events than her usual internal battles. He didn't pry; if she wanted him to know, she'd tell him. The unicorns were just as restrained, dwelling on their impeding departure. The idea of leaving his friends behind was too excruciating to focus on, so Bobby put it out of his thoughts to attempt a different pain.

Opening the door to the secret place of his mind where he'd sequestered the soul-link, the agony that wasn't his stole through his consciousness. It nearly forced him to his knees weeping, but gritting his teeth, he kept walking and mentally stepped aside to examine the misery analytically. There had to be some way to ease Hazel's suffering.

Reyna's admonition that he had doomed her to lasting psychological trauma weighed heavily on his efforts. No matter how he tried, his comforting thoughts seemed to have no effect. Frustration built as he remembered his own pain during the battle and his confrontation with Ali being transmitted easily. Was that all this link was good for? Negative emotional transfer? _What a crock._

During his struggles to send positive thoughts to the girl he now knew he loved, an idea began to form slowly. Something else Reyna said about the link was tickling at the edge of his mind. She'd said it was a deeper connection than a typical empathy link. It was a sharing of everything, emotions, thoughts even…bodies. That was it! Could they switch bodies? Maybe he could alleviate her pain completely, take it on himself, for a while at least. He almost smiled at the thought until he remembered Reyna's adamant warning against trying such a thing. _She was probably thinking I'd do something perverted._ But what could he really do in the body of a comatose girl in spiritual agony?

"We're here." Bobby's musings were interrupted abruptly. Quickly, he replaced the soul-link in its quarantine as he became aware of his current surroundings. On the whole, it didn't look much different from the rest of the forest except for one glaring exception. Instantly, he knew they were no longer in the confines of Yellowstone National Park; the twelve-foot high chain link fence topped with coils of razor wire didn't seem apropos for the park system at any rate. Slightly to the left of their position a red metal warning sign was tacked to the fence.

**DANGER!**

**HIGH VOLTAGE**

Below it a second, only slightly less menacing sign indicated:

**PRIVATE PROPERTY**

Trespassers will be

prosecuted to the full

extent of the law.

_By authority of New World Excavations_

"Well, fuck me sideways…" A godly riddle that actually made sense? Now there was a miracle.

"Ugh, I'll pass."

"Bobby, what's wrong?" His exclamation seemed to have broken through Reyna's ruminations. Turning to the unicorns, a long moment passed in silence between them. Tensions still ran high between Phoenix and Ali, while Starbuck seemed to have taken himself out of the discussion. His frustration grew as he realized they were looking to him for the final decision. _Why do I have to be the bad guy?_

He found himself torn between heart and mind. Logically, he knew Anna and Ali were right. They needed speed the unicorns could not produce. But his heart urged him to side with Phoenix, not only out of a desire to stay with his new friends, but also because of his innate desire to defy the authority of the gods. Ultimately, it was a lose-lose situation for him, but eventually, his head changed his heart as he realized keeping them with him was purely selfish and did them no favors in the long run.

"It's time," he sighed dejectedly, head bowed. "Phoenix, I'm sorry." The copper unicorn stamped her hooves in frustration and snuffled at him belligerently. Looking up, Bobby saw a brief wash of relief flash through Starbuck's eyes, glad he didn't have to intervene against his wife.

"Bobby, what do you mean, 'it's time'? I don't understand." The nervousness in Reyna's voice belied her supposed lack of comprehension. Unable to put it to words, Bobby gave her a pained glance before silently beckoning her to help him remove Percy's body from Starbuck's steady back. "Bobby!"

"They have to go, Rey!" Bobby pled with his eyes for Reyna not to press any further, but her own distress blinded her.

"What? Why? How will we get Percy to New York?" Her sudden change of attitude towards the unicorns puzzled him for a moment. She'd seemed to grow more and more wary of them as the quest progressed, but now it appeared she was loathe to part from them. _You don't know what you have 'til it's gone, I guess._

"I told you before, they aren't fast enough to get us there in time…either to save Percy or complete your quest." Bobby watched Reyna flinch at being addressed by the bulky Hunter. Whatever they'd talked about, his Praetor was now scared shitless of this girl.

"They have their part to play still, but not with us." Gently lowering Percy's body to the ground, he turned and faced the unicorns. He was sad to be leaving all of them, but his eyes were only drawn to one. Slowly, he stepped forward to look deep into Ali's eyes. They were full of sadness but not despair. She at least had no doubts they would meet again. Gingerly, he raised his hand and placed it on her horsey nose.

"Farewell, Alabaster. I promise we'll see each other soon." Unable to restrain himself any longer, Bobby threw his arms around the luminescent white neck of his best friend. His throat rose, threatening to choke out a sob. His eyes were full as released his embrace and stepped back.

_Anna was right, you are quite feminine._ His laugh was a bit forced, but her joke only strengthened his resolve to complete this quest and fulfill their destiny, whatever it might be. Turning to the others, he exchanged a formal goodbye with Starbuck and a somewhat frosty one with Phoenix.

Reyna was still spluttering as one by one the magnificent animals turned and trotted off through the forest they'd just traversed. Ali was the last as she held Bobby's eyes again for a long moment before resolutely following her companions. At some unknown signal, they sped out of sight in flashes of bronze, midnight, and starlight. The hole they left in his heart as Bobby watched them disappear served only to augment his determination.

_Tonight, I'll do it tonight._


	28. Chapter 28 Bobby

**A/N: Thanks again to my beta, _iscreamdrizzle_; she kicks ass. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Chapter 28_

_Bobby_

Nothing had changed. The afternoon sun still dappled the snow-scattered ground with the spidery shadows of winter-barren branches. A chill breeze still ruffled lazily through the forest, halfheartedlynudging the tops of the scraggly underbrush that poked up through the ivory blanket. Cold weather birds continued to chirp, their voices dulled by the cool air and snow. Physically nothing was altered, but somehow the world seemed heavier.

"Hey, Nature Boy…you still with us?" Phoebe's brash voice cut across Bobby's despondency like a whip. Shocked out of his melancholy, he turned to fix the Hunter with a deadened expression. An unexpected glimmer of sympathy flashed across her face as their eyes met. He didn't know who this girl was, but the depth of understanding in her eyes told enough of her story to know she had experienced her fair share of loss and pain.

"Yeah," he sighed finally. "Sorry, I just…" Bobby had never really had much of a way with words and the ability to describe his reaction to the unicorns' departure escaped him. Of all the people he ever thought would understand him, a Hunter of Diana, or Artemis he supposed, was pretty far down on the list—especially one like Phoebe. But as he locked eyes with her again, she didn't need words to comprehend and empathize with him. Reyna had a more difficult time.

"Bobby! Where the hell did they go?" She knelt on the ground cradling Percy's lolling head in her lap, her eyes full of azure fire. "Are we just supposed to walk all the way—" A single look from Phoebe was enough to silence the former Praetor. Some small measure of curiosity eked through Bobby's dulled mind as to the new relationship between the two ladies, but it wasn't strong enough to pull him into any semblance of legitimately caring.

"You know, I knew Romans were dense, but come on!" The Hunter directed her insult solely at Reyna's prostrate form. The sorceress' eyes darkened at the slight, but she didn't respond. "I've told you guys, we're getting new rides. Or rather, _he's_ getting us new rides," she finished with a thumb-jerk in Bobby's direction.

"So you've said," he sighed. "But I think you overestimate my powers of persuasion. I don't even know what you're looking for."

"Not looking for…_found_." Bobby looked around, but other than the electrified fence and barren forest, there were no signs of life. In light of the loss of his best friends, his usual cynicism took a decidedly acidic turn.

"You must be a daughter of Bacchus…you're obviously insane. There's nothing here but a fucking dead end!" For some reason, his outburst brought forth a knowing chortle from Reyna. Apparently he was extremely far off in his supposition as to Phoebe's identity, but he didn't care, it was a snide joke anyway.

"Au contraire, mon homme sauvage," Phoebe replied in intentionally southern-accent butchered French. "We are sitting on a gold mine…literally." It was the first time Bobby had seen the brutish girl look even remotely happy. Her genuine smile transformed her features from their normal horsey plainness into an almost pretty joviality. The lightness of her mood juxtaposed with his own bleakness, giving rise to a flash of anger. _What the hell is she so fucking tickled about?_ What was that German word? _Schadenfreude_? Did she get her jollies off others' heartache?

His wrath faded as quickly as it arrived with the realization that her joy was simple. She reveled only in the satisfaction of a successful hunt. Bobby's bitterness nearly forced a stinging tirade pointing out that they had not yet completed their hunt, but he refrained as her cheerfulness became infectious. In fact, her quick smile and playful jibe brought a sense of balance to his despair. He allowed himself a brief smile as distress morphed into determination. He would see Ali again, and Starbuck and Phoenix, and even Sunflower, November and Pearl. It was his quest, and he would not fail.

"Wait, what do you mean?"

"Can't you read? Or is that a skill Lupa finds to be a weakness?" So much for that pure lightness of being. "Beyond the fence is property of New World Excavations. You are looking at the grounds of the New World Gold Mine." She swept her arm expansively across the fenced horizon.

"You know, I was just beginning to think you might have a soul. Thanks for proving me wrong."

"Fuck off, Angst-boy."

"How do you know it's a gold mine?" Something was off in Reyna's voice, but Bobby was too busy working up a good wrath to pay much attention.

"Because, Princess, that's the only place you'd find what we've found." Bobby's jaw clenched in annoyance. Riddles were not what they needed right now, not while stranded in the middle of fucking nowhere with a dying demigod expiring at their feet.

"Do you _ever_ plan on telling us what the hell this thing is?"

"Nope." It was amazing how quickly Phoebe could change the attitude people held towards her. His determination shifted from reuniting with the unicorns to wringing this Hunter's neck.

"Why the fuck not?" Phoebe merely stared silently at him, a completely benign expression gracing her unremarkable face. The lack of mischief or malice in her eyes fueled Bobby's frustration all the more. If she were just being a bitch it would be ok. He could handle bitches. He'd dated Gwen for two years, and he was still friends with Reyna, after all.

Hours seemed to pass as they stared defiantly at each other, each waiting for the other to break first. It was a fight Bobby was bound to lose; his temper never let him persevere through silent struggles for very long. "Fuck this! Rey, come on. If she's gonna be obstinate she can just march her happy ass after her sisters. Give me Percy. We're leaving."

"No." The weak whisper shocked him out of his determined march forcing his gaze to Reyna's shrunken form. Her downcast eyes flicked up to meet his briefly, revealing the frightened visage of the little girl she'd been sometime long before Bobby'd ever known her. Again, he wondered what had passed between the Hunter and the sorceress to so completely subdue his willful friend. A brief glance back towards Phoebe showed him no sympathy or remorse, just the same neutral expression with which she'd addressed his demands. "No, we have to stay with Phoebe."

"Why? She's caused nothing but problems since she showed up! She tried to kill you, for Christ's sake!" There was no heart behind Bobby's arguments; the complete defeat Reyna exhibited drove the fire from his anger. He'd never seen his Praetor like this, and it was disconcerting to say the least. She stared blankly at her lap where Percy's head lay, absently brushing his unruly hair from his forehead. Her fingers found the curious grey streak above his temple, twisting it loosely around in her hand.

"I asked him once where he got this," she responded emotionlessly, head still bowed. She spoke as though they'd known each other for years rather than days, and Bobby had to admit that Percy had a way about him that just made his presence seem timeless. Her fingers stopped their ministrations as she lifted her gaze again. The look of childish terror no longer graced her features, replaced now by something he thought might be shame or regret, perhaps both. The expression left no doubt that she now knew exactly from where the frosted lock had arisen. He didn't think that knowledge was the only thing Phoebe had imparted, but it was certainly significant to Reyna's current condition. "You were right, Bobby."

"I know; that's why we're leaving." She shook her head at his deliberate misunderstanding.

"You told me not to. You saw the inevitable, but I pushed and grabbed at it blindly. I stole it and now…" Her eyes drifted back to Percy's seemingly peaceful face, a hand reaching tentatively to stroke his cheek. Bobby's hands clenched to fists at his sides in fitful anticipation. He'd assumed his words had fallen on deaf ears, but maybe some piece of his friend still existed in the depths of Reyna's broken soul who'd heard…and listened. "We have to save him, Bobby."

"Why?" Of course they had to save him; their lives depended on it, but quality was just as important as quantity.

"He's everything, everybody," she intoned reverently. Turning her gaze to Phoebe for emphasis, "I know that now."

"Well, I don't know about 'everything,'" he scoffed. Reyna turned back to Bobby with certainty embedded in her eyes.

"You, me, the unicorns and pegasi, Hazel, Jason, all of our friends, all of his friends…they're all depending on Percy." She found Phoebe again, "Zoe and all the other dead from the Titan war; their deaths mean nothing without Percy." She shook her head to fend off tears while Bobby tried to imagine one person trying to shoulder that much responsibility. If it were true, Ali, though at the time referring to his curse, had been right; Percy did carry the hopes and dreams of all mankind on his back. "I'm sorry, Bobby. All of this is my fault; me and my stupid selfishness. I—I don't even know who I am anymore."

Hanging her head again, the battle against sorrow lost, she wept. Large tears fell heavily into Percy's limp hair while a torrid swirl of ambivalent emotions swam through Bobby's mind. Reyna's adamancy to accept responsibility for their dire situation worked against his own perception of the quagmire. Again he found himself wanting to place at least part of the blame on Percy. It was clear Reyna was in no place to handle the rigors of a true relationship, yet Percy had shown his own bit of selfishness in accepting her affections, poisoned though they were. But was Percy really to blame either? Everyone made mistakes, right? It really came down to who made the worst mistake. Bobby grimaced with the determination that his favorite scapegoats were really to blame, yet again.

"Rey, stop this. Did you make mistakes? Sure, but they were no worse than Percy's or mine." He didn't say it, but if the situation really made her step back and reevaluate herself, so much the better. "No Rey, everyone shares in the blame for this clusterfuck, especially the gods. You said yourself the power trying to kill Roulette was of divine origin, right? Well, if it hadn't been for that fiasco, we wouldn't even be on this piece of shit quest." Out of the corner of his eye, Bobby noticed Phoebe tense almost nervously at his blasphemy. It was amazing to think that so many years of servitude hadn't jaded the Hunter's reverence.

"Oh really?" Reyna snapped. "Did the gods turn me into such a heartless bitch?"

"Rey, you're being too hard on yourself." _Not really._ "You're not heartless; you've been through a lot, enough to give _anyone_ issues. It doesn't make you a bad person. You wouldn't be my friend otherwise."

"I don't deserve it, your friendship."

"You know," he replied with a smirk, trying to keep the harsh words light. "I think I preferred the bitchy, ambitious Reyna to mopey, stick-in-the-mud Reyna." Razors couldn't have pierced him more cleanly than the traumatized anger projecting from her sharp gaze. His attempt at a lighthearted ribbing obviously failing, Bobby regained his seriousness. "Look, Rey, you're right. We have to save Percy, but sitting there in the mud, wallowing in self-pity certainly isn't going to help."

"Neither is giving up your one chance at getting him to New York in time," Phoebe shot at him. Bobby slowly turned his eyes to the burly Huntress, cooling to sheer frostiness in the process. His frustration at her ambiguity mingling with annoyance at the interruption only fueled his sense of helplessness. He shifted his gaze between the two girls, one distraught and pleading, the other stubborn and belligerent. Defeat rose sourly in his throat.

"Alright! Where the hell do we find this thing or things?" Phoebe paused a moment to cement her victory before mutely raising a finger to point to the top of a rocky outcropping directly behind the barrier fence. "Through the fence? The _electrified_ fence? On private property?" Her face a blank mask, Pheobe merely nodded after each exaggerated question. He sighed. Why should he have thought anything different? Why else would she have brought them here?

"Bobby, you have to hurry." He was glad to hear at least a small measure of strength return to Reyna's voice. "I'll stay here and watch Percy."

"Wait, what? I don't even know what I'm looking for! What if I need your magic?"

"You won't. You have all the skills you'll need." This time he didn't even bother to look at Phoebe; her deadpan expression would likely have driven him over the edge. He gritted his teeth to keep from shouting.

"Fine. Rey, can you at least make a hole in the fence for us?"

"Not us, you."

"Jesus H. Christ on a mother fucking pogo stick!" He rounded on the Hunter. "You expect me to traipse alone up a gods-damned mountain—on private gold-mining property, I might add—to find some type of airborne transportation and bring it back to pick you up, without telling me what the fuck I'm looking for? While you two sit here and do what? Paint your fucking toenails? Come _on_! Can't you at least tell me what I'm looking for? Is it a bird? Or a magic carpet? Shit, do I have to wander through the frickin' Cave of Wonders with my trusty monkey sidekick? Just tell me already!"

"No."

"WHY THE FUCK NOT?"

"Because you wouldn't go if I told you."

"You inspire such confidence, you know that?"

"Thank you," Phoebe monotoned. "I try so hard to please." Bobby stared incredulously at the mousy Hunter for several moments. After his outburst, the silence blanketed the snowy forest like mud thrown on a fire, more of a disgusting splat than a gentle snuff. Apparently the fire still had some life, though.

"FUCK!" The outburst echoed out across the valley they'd risen out of, the reverberations morphing his expelled frustration into a hauntingly beautiful melody. Listening to his own voice distorted by the resonance, he finally understood why no one ever shouted anything intelligent when trying to produce the phenomenon. It didn't matter what was said, the echo was always infinitely more profound. Hanging his head at the logic his own voice threw back at him, he knew his defeat was complete.

"Reyna, can you open the fence?" Phoebe requested after it became clear Bobby had no more to say. "Bobby, you'll know when you've reached the right spot. When you do, do not dissemble. You won't be able to talk to them like you do with the unicorns, but they can definitely see into your mind. Hold nothing back and you, of all people, should prevail. I'm sorry, that's all I can give you."

"Perfect," he sighed. Well, he'd never been one to hold back anyway. Maybe this wouldn't be so hard after all. At least she'd let slip that there was more than one of these things, whatever they were.

"Bobby, I—" Reyna began but apparently thought better of whatever she was planning on saying. Shaking her head as though to cast off some unpleasant idea, she turned to face the electric fence. Raising her left arm to point at the chain-link, she muttered something in Latin under her breath. Her finger began to glow with an ethereal orange incandescence while she traced a block-C outline on the distant fence. Bobby heard a series of metallic twangs as the links of the steel fence severed under the power of Reyna's magical lightsaber. When the door had been fashioned, she altered her hand into a gripping motion as though she were actually grasping the fence. Using a pulling motion, the chain-link door curled back ponderously until a space large enough for him to fit through appeared.

"Thanks, Rey." Turning to the two girls, he sighed again. It was getting to be a pretty common event for him. He never thought he'd say it, but he actually missed Percy. Girls were too frustrating. Before he could say anything else, Phoebe cut in again.

"I would say if you aren't back in an hour, we'll go on without you, but there wouldn't be any point." _No pressure, eh?_ He nodded silently to Phoebe's dire statement then exchanged a quick glance with Reyna. In the past, he'd have known exactly what that look meant, but this was a completely different Reyna. He sincerely hoped he misinterpreted the fear in her eyes. It looked like she expected to never see him again.

Finally he looked at Percy's comatose form. Despite the pain his wound must have been causing, the black-haired boy had a look of profound peace on his face. It should have been a comforting sight, but serenity was never a natural look on a demigod. More than Reyna's trepidations, this expression of tranquility elevated Bobby's nervousness to new heights. Swallowing thickly, he turned without a word and trudged up the hill towards the fence opening. Careful not to touch any part of the fence, he slipped through and set his steps upwards toward the rocky summit.

"This is so fucking stupid," he muttered to himself. Despite his complaints, a sense of quietude stole over him that only arose from being alone surrounded by the raw beauty of the natural world. Though it was only about 4:00 in the afternoon, the winter sun dipped low along the western horizon. The diffracted light washed the hillside in bright shades of orange and red setting the snow aflame. The trees grew sparse as Bobby climbed higher up towards the outcropping Phoebe had indicated. Pausing briefly in a bare patch on the slope, he turned to look back out over the caldera valley. The sunset hues spreading across the expanse below him looked vaguely funereal, and he hoped the feeling wasn't portentous. Sighing, he turned around and continued his trek up the ridge.

It took nearly twenty minutes to reach the base of the crust of stones thrusting out of the hillside like a giant's fist. The imagery did little to slow the quickening pace of Bobby's heart as he stood suspended in the disappearing sunlight, unable to force his feet any further. _This is stupid. Why are you scared? For all you know, they could be flying jackalopes._

Phoebe's warning ran through his mind like a broken record, repeating constantly but losing comprehensibility the longer it played. He was not a dancer by nature, always preferring the truth of the machinations of lies, but he knew some falsehoods had cancerous ways of growing stronger than the reality they concealed. Reyna was a prime example, her life revolving around the lie-made-truth that she was the ultimate victim. Bobby's doubts that he may have fallen to the same weakness, the human weakness, rooted him at the base of the boulders. Fear of death, for him and his friends prevented retreat, while fear of some underlying self-deception held him from advancing. The fact that he had no idea what he might be concealing from himself did little assuage his trepidation.

Taking several deep breaths and running a trembling hand through his unruly curly brown mop, determination and logic finally pushed Bobby forward. What would be the point of running away? At least going forward he had a chance at life, however slim. He couldn't go back; there were too many people relying on him. Percy and Reyna, the unicorns, the pegasi, and Hazel. The thought of backing down from a risk that could help save her life was unacceptable. After understanding the pain and horror she endured in her fight to stay alive, it would be pretty poor repayment to turn away now.

Suddenly, he understood Phoebe's counsel. He'd been bottling up his awareness of Hazel's distress to keep his mind clear and focused. To do that, he had to deny to himself that she agonized and that he shared in it. He would have to—at least temporarily—tear down his walls and immerse himself in her anguish in the face of whatever lay waiting for him just above. With the realization, his reservations dissolved. Painful it would be, but he would endure. Truly sharing someone's pain was a rarity, and to Bobby's mind, even more intimate than sharing joy.

Resolutely he stepped forward towards the irregular boulder. He wasn't the best climber in the world, but this was hardly a sheer face and it only rose about ten feet. Despite the short distance and relative ease, the dull ache from his still healing ribs led to far more grunting and cursing as he clambered up the rock face. By the time his right hand finally found the top of the wall, he held no doubts that whatever was waiting for him knew he was coming. Lifting his left leg to find a final foothold, Bobby hoisted himself gingerly onto the top of the outcropping.

Unimpressive was the first word that came to his head upon seeing the rocky table on which he perched. A few scrubby growths too small to properly be called bushes fought for purchase as they thrust through the various cracks and crevices running through the granite outcropping. The surface itself looked world weary from countless years of exposure to Nature's whims. The only curious element to the ledge was several areas that looked chiseled out by crude tools leaving scratches and gashes in the rock face. Standing up with a grunt, he brushed the dust from his knees, watching the motes scurry off into the gloaming. In the fading light, Bobby took stock of his new surroundings, looking for some clue as to what he was searching for.

A moment of confused frustration passed before a sound reached his ears over the chill breeze that was a constant companion to the exposed rock face. Bobby had never been one for excessive anthropomorphization, but considering their current plight, the distant steady thumping sounded awfully like and earthly heartbeat. He quickly revised his analysis as the sound grew until he could feel the powerful beating through his whole body like an amplified bass drum. Looking around frantically for the source and finding none, he dropped to his knees and placed an ear to the ground. The sound reverberated through the ground as vigorously as it did through him, but it was clear the earth was not the source.

Never in his life had Bobby been so thankful to be on his knees. At the same time as his mind realized the one place he hadn't looked for a source to the penetrating clamor, the offender alighted heavily from directly above. Prostrate on the ground was exactly where he should have been in the face of the creature before him. His eyes pointing directly down between his hands, he slowly raised his head, taking in the sight as much as the dimming twilight would allow.

Massive talons dug gouges into the igneous surface obviously explaining the rough-cut lacerations he'd observed earlier. The sharp spikes were attached to boney, yellow-skinned feet covered in a cuff of white down. As his eyes traveled further, the white micro-fleece matured to dark brown scaled feathers. From the beast's shoulders sprouted two massive eagles' wings which slowly folded into its body in elegant drapery. Underneath the wings, Bobby saw the unnatural transition between feather and fur as the juxtaposed animal elements of the monster comingled. The golden furred hind-quarters of the fiend extended down into massive paws. A tufted tail could be seen swishing lazily as the being settled.

Bobby closed his eyes, trying not to let his mind reject this creature's appearance out of hand. Hadn't he just spent three days befriending members of another supposedly extinct species? Who's to say there weren't others? His eyes popped open again with the weak desire that he at least want to see his death coming. Raising his gaze to meet the black abysses boring into his soul, he again gave thanks he was already on his knees.

Somehow, he managed to remember what he needed to do and released all the bonds he'd put on his soul link. Madness threatened as Hazel's awareness of pain surged once again through his mind mingling with and intensifying his own fear. Through the blinding inner struggle, Bobby watched as the feathered face slowly drew closer, the dull yellow hooked beak only inches from his nose. Tense moments that could have been seconds or years passed while the silent interrogation commenced. Consumed by the nightmares of Hazel's imprisonment, Bobby had no cognizance of another mind inside his own, but the intensity of the searching eyes made it impossible to believe his thoughts and memories weren't as open as the sky above him.

Finally, as slowly as it had approached, the gryphon retreated. Desperate as he was to separate his thoughts from Hazel, he dared not until acceptance was granted. And if it wasn't, he could die well knowing his final moments were shared with his sunny-eyed soul partner. Watching through the anguish in his mind, Bobby saw the gryphon extend its huge wings, rising upright on its hind legs before trumpeting out the most raw and beautiful cry he'd ever heard. It was a raptor's lonely bugle filled with a triumphant sadness. The sound penetrated through his soul link and for the briefest of moments, Hazel's mind found a measure of peace.


	29. Chapter 29 Of Paradoxes

**A/N: New format this time around. I'm probably going to do something like this for all of book 2, so let me know what you think about it.  
**

**It would be good to refresh yourselves on the events of chapter 1 and quantum mechanics for this chapter.  
**

**There are a couple of flashbacks in this chapter, denoted by the large blocks of italicized text. **

**Thanks again to my beta,_ iscreamdrizzle_. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Chapter 29_

_Of Paradoxes_

Despite the banality the word conjures, 'nothing' was actually a pretty interesting feeling…or lack thereof, he supposed. He wasn't floating in a sea of darkness or writhing in endless torment. There was no light to walk towards nor choirs singing. There wasn't anything. There was no light, but it wasn't dark. There was no sound, but it wasn't quiet. There was no heat, but it wasn't cold. He couldn't reach out to grab anything because, well, apart from there being nothing to grab, he had nothing to grab with.

Not only was there a dearth of external stimuli, but his mind provided no commentary on the situation either. It was as though the words for the feelings he should be having no longer existed. His mind was still aware, but there was just nothing to be aware of. Somehow, he knew this…absence…was not death, at least not truly. Death had a place and a being; there were neither of those here. Wherever _here_was.

Slowly the realization dawned that he was literally nowhere. He was the cat in the box, caught at a node between two possibilities of existence where neither were possible. There was no way for him to have entered this place so, logically there was no way for him to escape. It was forbidden; he knew that. But knowledge did not foster concern. Just because a thing was forbidden, did not mean it could not happen. His whole life was supposedly 'forbidden', yet he existed and thrived, or at least he used to.

* * *

She didn't even watch Bobby walk away to what would probably be his death. She couldn't bear it. She hung her head, feigning fatigue at the small bit of power she'd just displayed. Truth be told, she felt more than a fair bit of shame. It had taken all of her willpower to admit her fault, and the resulting embarrassment crippled her far more than the magic. She'd faced so much guilt already, watching Bobby depart to face yet more danger for her sake while she sat there immobile was too much for Reyna.

So she looked away. She heard him trudge up the slope through the crusted snow, pausing at the opening she'd made in the fence. Her senses betrayed her desperate wish to let him walk away unnoticed. Absently, Reyna began stroking Percy's jet hair, hoping the intimate touch would focus her awareness. It didn't. She heard each footfall on the crunchy forest floor until she knew her mind was merely projecting the sound from her imagination. Slowly, she unwound her fingers from Percy's hair and took a deep shuddering breath.

"You've lived for thousands of years. Does it get any easier?" Reyna lifted her head to fix her deadened eyes on Phoebe. The Titan seemed to have no doubt as to what she referred when she sighed. It was the most genuine expression she'd heard the immortal give.

"No. But then, my family isn't exactly known for their sense of accountability." Reyna was treading on dangerous ground. Despite the obvious animosity between them, Reyna's new-found deference to the Hunter was only partially based on fear.

_"Come on, we need to talk." Phoebe's gruff voice startled Reyna out of her contemplation of Bobby and the unicorns. In her mind, she'd been making up dialogue for the obviously strained discourse of which she could only comprehend one side. It was like watching an un-subbed Mexican soap opera with only a smattering Spanish at your disposal. She could understand bits and pieces, but filling in the rest from her somewhat off kilter imagination left her more amused than concerned. A bemused smile had stolen over her face only to be wiped clean by the stern demeanor of the Titan-turned-Hunter. _

_"So talk." Reyna didn't bother trying to hide her annoyance at Phoebe's intrusion. _

_"Not here." Despite the sorceress' most inquisitive look, the large girl merely spun on her heels and walked off up the continuously rising slope. Figuring she might finally get some answers, Reyna shrugged and followed. They walked in silence for several minutes, the afternoon air warming slightly and pressing down uncomfortably through her multilayered clothing. She'd begun to think the Hunter had been struck mute, when she finally stopped and turned. Bobby and the unicorns, Reyna noticed, were completely out of sight. _

_"So, why did you try to kill me?" Reyna had never liked to beat around the bush. It was one of the few parts of her personality that could have been considered honest. As such she saw no reason to change her forwardness on her path towards reconstruction. _

_"Because of your mother." Good, no dissembling on either end might actually make this conversation civil. At first, Reyna had wanted nothing more than to beat this girl's face into the ground, but knowing who she was, and how desperate there situation was, she realized that cooperation would have to take the place revenge. There was no way understanding and civility could exist if they kept secrets from each other._

_"What did Trivia do to you?" True, her mother wasn't the most caring or dutiful parent in the world, but she hadn't seemed evil or malicious._

_"Ugh, Romans," Phoebe scoffed._

_"Get over it." It had been less than 8 hours since her conviction on non-existence of non-Roman demigods had been rattled and she was already sick of the proverbial line in the sand that separated her and Bobby from Phoebe and apparently Percy. _

_"Fine, but don't expect me to call her by her Roman name. She doesn't deserve it." _

_"What did she do?" Reyna tried to keep her voice as even as possible to counteract Phoebe's rising ire._

_"She's a blood traitor!" She wracked her mind trying to remember her Greek history, but before Reyna could make the connection, Phoebe enlightened her. "Hecate betrayed her family and Zeus gave her everything! She has more power now than she did as a Titan." _

_"So you're just jealous of her power?" Now Reyna was starting to get annoyed; Bobby was right about immortals._

_"Hardly," the Hunter scoffed. "Titans _are_ power. Your mother betrayed us. Turned on her own family and sold us out. I will never forgive her for that."_

_"But…didn't you fight with the Hunters last summer? Against the Titans? What's the difference?" _

_"The difference is that I had no choice. I'm bound by the Styx to follow Artemis' orders. Hecate had no such compulsions." Phoebe's voice had morphed from anger to pleading, begging Reyna to understand her plight. _

_"You know, I am not my mother."_

_"You _are_ precious to her, though. I could rip you from her. It's only fitting." Reyna was amazed Phoebe managed to keep still; the vitriol spewing from her was tangible._

_"Wait, y-you loved her didn't you? You loved her and she turned against you."_

_"Of course I loved her! She was my favorite granddaughter!" _

* * *

Long seconds after the gryphon's cry faded from the physical world, the fierce song continued to echo through Bobby's mind. The memory of that benediction both soothed and chilled his wild soul. Full of loneliness, it washed away his constant feeling of solitude through a sense of solidarity. The sound seemed to align his soul-link until he and Hazel were in perfect resonance. His memory of the raptor's call fueled that harmony until their minds melded completely.

"Bobby! W-where am I?" Hazel's silent voice burst through his mind in desperation, the disorientation of a week of unspeakable anguish heavy in her expression.

"Hazel! Gods, it's good to hear your voice…well, sort of." His conviction from earlier that afternoon resurfaced. If there was a better time, he couldn't picture it. "'Zel, come—"

"Bobs, it hurts! It hurts so much. Where are you? Why can't I see you?"

"Sshhh, I know," he soothed. Somehow he didn't really mind when she used the nickname. In fact, he kind of liked it. "I'm here. 'Zel, you need to listen to me. I don't think we have much time." The more he focused on Hazel the more tenuous his hold on her consciousness became. He knew his chance was fading.

"No, no I won't let you do this." The pain in her voice took on a glimmer of steel as she pushed his mind gently back. Bobby had forgotten that all their thoughts were being shared at the moment. As though waiting for his acknowledgement of the situation, a flood of Hazel's memories inundated his mind. At first he thought they were random, but the girl knew what she was doing. Every thought and memory that flashed before him were _about_him. Unbelievably strong feelings were attached to seemingly insignificant situations: a small smile after chomping through one of her cupcakes, his comic scowl at being bested yet again by an Apolline archer, the brush of fingers in the exchange of pegasus reigns. The feelings associated with these memories were those Bobby never anticipated anyone having towards him. Infatuation, lust, eventually love, and above all an unbreakable trust infused his mind along with a bountiful compassion that only a daughter of Pompona could conjure.

"Hazel, I—"

"No, Bobby, you share too much of this pain anyway. You will _not_suffer in my place. What you will do is fix this." There was infinite conviction in her thought. "Plus, I have much better plans for your body than to be trapped inside it…" Her silent voice trailed off as she realized exactly what she'd said. If it were possible for a disembodied awareness to blush, she would probably have been a cherry. For his part, Bobby chose to let the comment pass. He'd already made up his mind about his feelings for this girl so the fact that she wanted to jump his bones was more of an ego boost than an embarrassment.

"But, just for a little while? 'Zel I can't stand it, knowing what you're going through and not being able to do anything about it."

"Bobs, this is my burden. Yours is to fix me. And I know you will because you always do." He wanted to ask her what she meant by that, but their shared consciousness was failing much faster now. As the fragments of his mind untangled from hers, he felt her agony returning in full force. "Ugh…t-time to go. I'll s-see you…when you…w-win."

"'Zel? 'Zel! Hazel!" Bobby cried, but she was already too far gone. "Just hold on a little longer," he muttered as he felt them separate. The onslaught of her nightmares still assaulted his senses, but the distance that allowed him to quarantine the transference had returned. He came back to his body to find himself still kneeling on the plateau, his hands splayed before him to support his grief wracked form. Bobby could tell their exchange had happened nearly instantaneously; the gryphon was still settling itself.

After a few brief moments of recovery, he lifted his head to see the gryphon's gaze once again locked with his own. In contrast to the searching stare that had nearly broken him a moment ago, the light of the fading twilight ignited the beast's black eyes with a calming acceptance. As he took in the impossibility sitting before him, the prophecy tugged at his memory. So much had happened he'd nearly forgotten its predictions.

_With royal fiends by lunar afterglow._Well, if there were a more 'royal fiend' than this, he'd be hard pressed to name it. Jupiter's eagle and Juno's lion combined in one animal, the king of the sky and queen of the earth. With an inner smirk, Bobby noted how fitting it was that Juno got the ass-end of the beast.

* * *

The most interesting thing about living in a world of nothingness was the lack of interest. Revelations that would have normally generated strong reactions were received analytically. There was no panic at the memory that he had been shot. Neither did the recovery of all his lost memories elicit any triumph. These thoughts certainly _suggested_that he should feel something, but there was no impetus for the arousal of emotion.

Percy knew he should be concerned about Annabeth. She'd never been one to lose her head, or at least that was the impression she liked to give. But he knew better. He hadn't had time to tell her that he was leaving, and she was likely hysterical with worry. Just thinking of their first kiss under Mount St. Helens reminded him how concern for his well-being could drive her to unexpected histrionics. He should also have felt ashamed for his infidelity over the last couple days. After all, his indiscretion was the whole reason he was here. But because he _was_here and there was nothing he could do about it, the worry and shame were neutered.

Looking at the situation logically, there was no reason to think that Annabeth was still up in arms over his disappearance. There was a distinct possibility that Jason had recovered at least some of his memories. Just because Percy hadn't, at least in the real world, didn't mean his counterpart also hadn't. Jason. If there was a memory that could succeed in conjuring an emotional response in this void it was this one.

_"Are you boys, quite finished?" Hera sounded exasperated._

Well, who cares_, Percy thought. _She's a bitch anyway.

_"I heard that, Mr. Jackson." Hera admonished. "Now please, both of you must calm down and listen to what I have to offer you."_

_"Unless it's a muzzle for the Douche-bag of Rome over there, I don't wanna hear it." He couldn't explain it, but this Jason kid just rubbed him the wrong way. It didn't help that he looked a little bit like Luke and acted like Thalia. Normally Percy was level-headed enough to look past such superficial blemishes, but the dislike was almost instinctual._

_"Perseus, that is enough!" Mega-bitch though she was, she was still a very powerful goddess. Percy managed to pull his attention away from Jason to look at Hera more clearly. What he saw shocked him into forced silence. She looked…exhausted. Her hair was disheveled and there were dark circles under her eyes. He'd seen plenty of people in worse shape than her, but this was a goddess. Immortals didn't get tired, at least not physically. _

_"You look terrible…" Percy's jaw dropped at Jason's slip of the tongue. For all his posturing about respecting the goddess, the kid had just sentenced himself to years of spiteful aggression. Percy had seen the destruction Hera could wreak first hand. Annabeth had been tormented mercilessly for less._

_"Thank you, Mr. Grace." A sardonic grimace flashed across her face as she sighed before muttering to herself, "I don't even know why they bother." Hera kept her voice soft, but Percy, who was closer managed to ferret out her comment._

_"You don't know why who bother doing what?" The goddess flicked him a look filled with momentary annoyance before wiping her face back to neutral. _

_"My family. As to the what, that is a bit more involved, but at least I have some visual aids for this lecture." She paused briefly while Percy and Jason exchanged a glance, confusion briefly erasing their rivalry. "Perseus, as you so boastfully pointed out a moment ago, your father is Poseidon."_

_"Um…yeah. I think I'm pretty clear on that part, thanks." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Jason bristle again at his plainly disrespectful sarcasm. It gave him a sense of satisfaction to be able to rankle this kid so easily. Hera, apparently used to varying degrees of demigodly insolence, continued unfazed turning to look at Jason._

_"You are the son of Jupiter."_

_"Yes, my Lady…" He halted, apparently unsure if he should continue. "Your husband." Percy noted the two words were spoken with a sense of almost dread. It had been over four years since he had taken Latin with Chiron, but something about the name Jupiter tugged at his memory along with Jason's apparent trepidation at being in the presence of Hera. Despite whatever negative reaction the kid expected, it certainly wasn't the almost warm smile she flashed him._

_"Not exactly, young Praetor. Or rather, he is my husband, yet he is also not my husband." Percy was confused now._

_"I thought Zeus was your husband."_

_"Of the two of you, Perseus is more correct at the moment."_

_"_More_ correct?" Percy spluttered. "That doesn't make any sense, either he is or he isn't."_

_"If the paradox made sense, you would no longer be human and we would no longer be your gods," she explained cryptically. "That's the nature of religion, to explain the unexplainable through faith."_

_"Just one problem, I don't have any faith in the gods."_

_"Ah, but you do believe we exist, I assume." Kind of hard not to, all things considered. Percy nodded grudgingly as she smirked at her theological victory. "As did your Greek ancestors." Jason strangled a gasp that Percy didn't really understand, but the murderous eyes the purple-shirted pinhead fixed on him were easy enough to comprehend._

_"You're supposed to be dead." An oversight his tone and demeanor seemed keen to remedy. Percy figured the only thing keeping him from pouncing was that they were still in a dream and ethereal mutilation just wouldn't be very satisfying. _

_"Um…sorry?" He still had no idea what Jason's problem was, but the level of his rage was almost comical. His eyebrows were actually twitching in fury. Percy didn't even try to hold it in when he barked a laugh at Jason's discomfiture. "Where did you find this guy?" He sobered under the level gaze Hera directed at him._

_"His Roman ancestors also believed in the gods…Perhaps a bit more diligently than the Greeks." If either Hera or Jason thought the revelation of Jason's ancestry would elicit similar animosity from Percy, they were sorely disappointed. There just seemed to be no huge significance in Percy's eyes. Finally something clicked as he remembered something Chiron had said once in Latin class._

_"That's why he called you Juno or whatever, and Jupiter is the same as Zeus." If it were possible, Jason's anger only increased at Percy's supposition. "Calm down, Sparky. I didn't mean to offend you." He did, actually._

_"Jason, be still. This rivalry needs to end, and it is why you are here."_

_"Rivalry? What rivalry?" Percy was used to being the last one to the party, but he figured it was time to get some answers. _

_"Between Greeks and Romans," Jason answered, apparently much more knowledgeable on the situation than Percy. "We've been at war for millennia, but the Greeks were eradicated almost two hundred years ago. Or at least we thought they were. I assume you aren't the only one of your kind." He rounded on the goddess with a look of desperation. "Why were we not told? How could we not know!"_

_"I wish I could say we separated you for your own safety, but in truth it was mere selfishness." She didn't sound very remorseful. "Your constant wars were killing off all of our worshipers. Time and science had done enough damage already, without our only living believers demolishing each other. The Titans would have won long ago if we hadn't kept you apart. We don't like to admit that we need humans, but without worshipers we become obsolete and powerless. And you demigods had enough trouble dealing with monsters to keep you occupied."_

_Percy took this information in ecumenically. He'd never heard anything about this supposed war with another faction of demigods, and he had to agree that he'd had enough to deal with over the last few years without having to deal with that can of worms. There was no reason for him to feel any particular acrimony towards them. As far as he was concerned, the only obstacle to an end to hostilities was if all the other Romans were as supercilious and annoying as this Jason kid. _

_"So if we hate each other so much, why are we even having this powwow?" As he phrased the question, a nagging memory of the previous summer pulled at Percy. As if reading his thoughts, Hera turned to him in answer._

_"The Great Prophecy." Son of a bitch! They couldn't have some time to kick back and relax? Not even one year? _

_"Damn it! Already?"_

_"Unfortunately, Perseus, history has a rather annoying way of repeating itself." There was none of the usual disdain in Hera's voice as she shifted her gaze between Jason and him. "The emerging threat is great and terrible a—and we need your help."_

_"Is this your great 'offer'? Begging us for help…again?"_

_"I am offering you both the chance to correct our greatest mistake. My family will never admit it but we were wrong. We separated you when we should have worked toward peace. It was inevitable that this day would return, and we need all of you for this task." Her suitably cryptic response actually eased Percy's mind. It was beyond unusual for an immortal to be as forthcoming as she had been moments ago. Her renewed obfuscation, infuriating though it was, seemed to restore a sense of order. "My offer is to give you the chance to save all of us, gods, demigods and mortals."_

_"What exactly are we saving the world from, my Lady?" The exasperation in Jason's voice caught Percy off guard. Perhaps this guy wasn't just a mindless sycophant. _

_"If you accept my proposition, you will find out along your paths. However, I can tell you it is a force far worse than Saturn and his minions. If you need proof, look at my prison." She gestured to the bar-like vines snaking up to a point above them. Jason looked around his expression visibly changing to one of grim resolve. Eventually his gaze locked with Percy's. Glory had never held much sway with Percy, and if he'd seen in the Roman's eyes merely the desire to further his own ambitions, he might have refused. But in that brief, silent interchange a mutual wish to protect those they cared about passed between them. Simultaneously they nodded to each other and turned to look at the weary face of the goddess before them._

_"What do you want us to do?"_

In the expository void of Percy's current state of nothingness, it was easy to judge that they had made the correct decision. Knowing the threat facing the gods and the world, it was clear the strongest demigods were needed to complete the quest outlined by the Great Prophecy. There was no doubt that Reyna would be included. He had never seen a more powerful mortal sorceress, but she had to sort out her issues before she could devote herself to the cause. Bobby was an interesting case. He was definitely unique, but not especially powerful so far as Percy had seen.

The biggest question was what their current quest had to do with the grand scheme of things. Despite the excellent conditions for analytical thought his current predicament had placed him in, Percy knew his cerebral limitations. He wasn't even sure what the actual goal of the quest was, other than simply finding a cure for Hazel and Roulette was not the true endgame. As he thought about it, the name he'd given the newborn pegasus seemed more and more appropriate. They were playing a giant game of roulette, and Percy felt like the ball flitting around the track. As he was now, he could do nothing but wait for the wheel to bounce him where it would.


	30. Chapter 30 Reyna

**A/N: Welcome to the last chapter of this part of the story. I'm still deciding whether the 'sequel' will be set up as a separate story or whether I will just keep this one going with a 'Part 2' designation on new chapters. What do you guys prefer? Let me know via the poll on my profile. Thanks once again to my beta, iscreamdrizzle. Your extra gift is at the end of this chapter, I hope you enjoy it. Happy reading!**

* * *

_Chapter 30_

_Reyna _

The strands of his hair shifted restlessly between her fingers as though sensing some urgent need denied by their body's invalidity. Try though she might, no amount of caressing could calm the tension lying just beneath the surface of his skin. Mere hours ago Reyna would have relished the chance to cradle Percy's head in her lap, but now the weight was oppressive. Hers were not the hands to comfort him; she knew that. Yet despite her best efforts at letting go, there was still some small part of her that hungered for possession. She sighed and smiled ruefully.

"So what's the joke?" Phoebe's intrusion brought Reyna out of her reverie but the sound of her great-grandmother's voice did not startle her.

"More of a self-revelation than a joke."

"What's the difference?" Relation or not, the Hunter was still a bitch. Phoebe's eyes narrowed as she seemed to see Reyna and Percy for the first time. "You really are masochistic, aren't you?"

"Ha! Now _that_ is an understatement." Reyna had no doubts as to what the Titan referred. This Annabeth girl she'd mentioned earlier. She looked down again into Percy's serene face, a question hovering on her lips. "Tell me about her."

"You weren't kidding. Are you sure?" Phoebe shook her head in disbelief as Reyna nodded resolutely. "Well, let's start with the easy stuff. She's tall and blonde—"

"Tcha! Of course," Reyna muttered involuntarily drawing a glare at the interruption. "Sorry, go on."

"She's got Athena's grey eyes and brains. You'd never know she was a blonde if you couldn't see it." The mention of Annabeth's eyes sent a cold shiver up Reyna's spine. She remembered Percy's subconscious supposition of those eyes into her own face. There was an intensity in them far beyond anything Reyna could achieve. "She's driven and focused and not really good at taking 'no' for an answer. She's really good at giving it, though."

"I sense some history." It was hard to miss the bitterness in Phoebe's voice. _Good to know I'm not the only one she has issues with._

"Annabeth almost became a Hunter."

"W-why would she want to be a Hunter?" Reyna had never even considered the possibility of joining Diana's handmaidens. Her whole life had been devoted to her ambitions, and avarice required that all options be kept open. Siding with Diana cut off too many avenues for advancement. If this Annabeth girl were as driven as Phoebe said she was, why would she ever think about setting her life on hold like that?

"Because she's smart and rational," Phoebe countered with disdain. "She actually uses that thing inside her head, unlike most girls her age. I've never seen her act faster than she thinks, except…"

"Except for?" It was a silly question. There was no doubt in Reyna's mind where the Hunter was going with her tirade. Still, it was shocking to see the look of disgust Phoebe directed towards Percy's limp form.

"Except when it comes to _him_." She turned away seething, and it was several minutes before she turned back. When she did, her face had softened again. "He—he's a powerful man, that one," she continued with a flick of her hand at Percy. Reyna was fully aware of the magnitude of that compliment coming from not only a Hunter, but also a Titan. She also knew the connotations had nothing to do with his battle prowess. Looking down at his resting face, she was more than inclined to agree that his power extended well beyond the arena of war.

Thinking about the woman who had truly captured his heart, she finally understood the level of competition she faced. She felt the blood drain from her face and opened her mouth for a final question, but it lay forgotten on her tongue as a fierce cry split the twilit silence around them.

"What the hell was that?" Reyna asked frantically, swiveling her head in all directions in fear. Phoebe by contrast, was still, her eye fixed in the direction in which Bobby had disappeared.

"I'd guess Nature Boy hit the mark. I just hope he has the balls to follow through."

"Follow through with what? What is it he's looking for anyway?" Reyna wasn't as shocked or angry at Phoebe's reticence on the subject as Bobby was, but after hearing that sound, she was starting to get a little worried.

"Give it a few minutes, and hopefully I won't have to tell you." Reyna wasn't sure how she hadn't noticed it before, but there was a hint of something other than stubbornness in the Hunter's voice as she again skirted the question. Scrutinizing the large girl, she saw her flick her eyes towards the sky several times in a nervous gesture.

"Not telling us has very little to do with our safety, does it?" Phoebe's eyes filled with panic for a moment before softening.

"I'm walking a pretty fine line here by helping you," she conceded. "If I were a demigod or nymph, there'd be no problem, but I'm stepping very close to direct Family involvement. And in case you hadn't noticed, my family isn't exactly in anyone's good graces at the moment. The only thing saving my ass from a super-tazer shot from King Sizzle-Sticks right now is that I'm cleaning up my own mess. Even so, I'm on very thin ice—"

She was cut off by a heavy barrage of thudding beats that seemed to spring directly from the ground beneath them. There was a strange syncopated regularity to the sound that made Reyna think of hoof beats. Looking around for the source, she spied Phoebe's eyes trained skyward. The ground was trembling with the sound, so up was the last place Reyna thought to search. Following the Hunter's gaze, she understood several things at once.

Phoebe was right not to tell Bobby beforehand what he was facing. No one would willingly walk into a gryphon's eyrie, not without a death wish. They were creatures of legend, supposedly extinct, yet their reputation was beyond fearsome. They brooked no deception and did not submit to anyone without them earning the beasts' complete trust. It was a feat accomplished so rarely, people had just stopped trying and tended to avoid the animals altogether.

Gryphons, like dragons, were attracted to treasure, though they did not covet it for themselves. Rather they endeavored to keep it out of the hands of people who would misuse it. It was their most noble trait and their fatal flaw. They were hunted to the brink of extinction just to keep them away from mines and treasure troves. Watching these creatures emerge from this gold mine instilled Reyna with a sense of profound respect for the owners of New World Excavations. Their motives must have been pure to be able to coexist with a nest of gryphons.

Watching her subordinate descend rapidly on the back of one of the three animals, Reyna was humbled. It was a task she was hopelessly incapable of performing. Her entire life had been a deception. How Bobby managed to open himself completely and without reservation was a complete mystery. Fear gripped her heart as she watched the gryphons touch down, quickly turning the wide clearing claustrophobic. Would they test her as well, or was Bobby's trust enough for a one-way ticket to New York?

As the gryphons folded their magnificent wings back against their bodies, she watched Bobby sway slightly as he tried to dismount. Even in the fading twilight, Reyna could see the distinct chartreuse cant to his skin as he reached the ground. _Bobby, airsick? But he's our best equestrian._ She'd never seen Bobby bat an eye, even at the most vomit-inducing pegasus maneuvers, so why was he affected now?

"Bobby! Are you alright?" She was placing Percy's head on a makeshift pillow of sweaters, ready to offer whatever aid she could as Bobby dropped to his knees, head in hands. She was halted by simultaneous warning looks from both Bobby and Phoebe, Bobby's all the more frightening with his deathly pale countenance.

"Not yet," he choked, placing a hand over his mouth as the nausea overtook him. He was trying to suppress the bile, but Reyna figured he'd probably feel a lot better if he just let it happen. Shifting her gaze warily to the gryphons, she wondered again how much longer she'd be alive. Bobby startled her, "Don't worry, they trust me. But I still have to introduce you. Just give me a minute."

Her immediate fear of death abated, she turned back to the gryphons with a sense of childlike wonder. Here was yet another creature she'd never thought to lay eyes on, and she could understand a little why Hazel liked Bobby so much. He definitely wasn't dull.

The nearest animal was somewhat smaller than the other two with deep auburn primary featherstrailing up to a shock of bright orange at the crown of its head. Halfway down its back the feathers deepened in to a dark maroon before melding seamlessly into the russet fur that covered the hindquarters. It stared at her with yellow-rimmed eyes full of curiosity but no overt malice.

The other two gryphons were larger, one with brown, almost black feathers, the other silvery grey. Eventually, Bobby regained his composure and rose to his feet. With a sense of reverence, he placed a hand on the silver ruff of the male he'd ridden in on. Reyna was certain this was the beast who'd tested him and who'd released the fierce cry they'd heard.

"Phoebe, you first." Bobby walked around the silver gryphon towards the brown-black beast. The Hunter stepped forward confidently, only reluctant to take Bobby's outstretched hand. "Sorry, but I'm pretty sure there has to be physical transference."

"Fine." She grudgingly let him take her hand. The gryphon bowed its head to Bobby's touch while he guided Phoebe's hand next to his own. After a brief moment, Bobby pulled his hand away leaving Phoebe alone with the dark gryphon. The animal remained still for a moment before breaking the contact with a contented shake of its head. Bobby nodded in satisfaction then turned to Reyna.

"Rey, are you ready?"

"No," she replied truthfully.

"Too bad, come here." He offered his hand as he walked toward the red gryphon. It was obviously female, maybe she'd get catch a break with a little female bonding. Sighing, she stepped slowly towards Bobby, grasping his hand probably a little tighter than was really necessary. He winced, "Jesus, woman! I need that hand."

"I'm sure Hazel wouldn't mind taking over its duties."

"'Zel's great and all, but a guy never forgets his first love."

"Ok, gross." Despite her apparent disgust, the lighthearted banter helped calm her nerves and made her think of Percy. Strengthening her resolve, she let Bobby walk her forward to repeat the same process she'd watched with Phoebe. Her fingers tingled with something akin to recognition as they came into contact with the soft orange feathers on the gryphon's head.

Warmth spread down her arm and through her torso as Bobby severed his link. There was no feeling of permanence to the interaction, more like a cozy acquaintance. When the gryphon broke the contact, Reyna found herself smiling at the creature that could very well have ripped her to shreds. "Amazing…"

"Just wait 'til you ride her," Phoebe quipped with a grin. It was the first genuine positive remark her great-grandmother had given her all day.

"Uh…about that. Rey, how's your stomach feeling?" Judging from Bobby's reaction to gryphon-flight, it was a valid question.

"Stronger than yours at the moment, considering." She'd never had too much trouble with flight. Some of the more rigorous maneuvers got her a bit queasy from time to time, but nothing too dramatic. It was bodily fluids and functions that really got to her. "As long as there's no bloodletting involved, I think I'll manage."

"Ok, well, we'll put you on the inside of the formation, just in case."

"Thanks," Reyna replied sardonically. "How long will this trip take, anyway? New York isn't exactly close."

"We'll be at Camp Half-Blood before dawn," Phoebe replied confidently. _Half-Blood? How demeaning._

* * *

Her awareness had been reduced to the freezing wind pummeling her face. Reyna understood now why Bobby had gotten sick on the short flight from the gryphon's eyrie. The beast she rode moved faster than anything she'd ever ridden. While a centaur could get from one place to another faster, they did so by bending space and time. You didn't feel the speed when traveling with a centaur. On a gryphon, there was nothing _but_ speed. Having to endure the rapid take off and landing in so short a period would have sent her over the edge too. Luckily there was time for her stomach to equilibrate on the long journey toward New York.

Thinking about where they were headed filled her with apprehension that had nothing to do with airsickness or Percy's condition. Demigods just did not go to New York. Not without a direct summons to Olympus, and that hadn't happened in years. Reyna had never even been to the East Coast, much less straight into the lion's den. Looking to her left, she managed to squint her eyes enough to see Phoebe through the buffeting airstream. She hoped her great-grandmother was right about this.

Shifting her gaze to her right, Bobby was just visible clearly struggling with single-minded determination to hold Percy and himself in place. She'd been a little upset when Phoebe had insisted that the boys ride together, but watching how much effort Bobby was expending just to keep them both seated, her indignation receded. She would have had to use magic to hold them up, and under these gale-force conditions, she couldn't have maintained the concentration needed to sustain such a spell.

Despite their incredible speed, Reyna was skeptical that they would arrive before morning as Phoebe had assured them they would. Airliners took at least 4-5 hours to make this flight, and with the time change it turned in to an apparent travel time of over 8 hours. Fast as they were, the gryphons had to fly closer to the ground, thus taking a longer route than an airplane. Regardless, their journey was going to take several hours, and there was little else to occupy her mind than thoughts of what awaited them.

More so than the rote fears instilled in the Legions about the dangers of the northeastern US, Reyna had a more acute trepidation. She'd made a choice to follow a path of truth and openness, and it was about to undergo its most strenuous test. It was relatively easy to reveal herself and what her life of ambition had made of her to people she knew, people who knew the context of her actions, like Bobby. But the intensity of those grey eyes she'd only seen briefly in a memory, frankly scared the shit out of her. It would be impossible to hide the truth of her feelings from those eyes, but how could she possibly reveal what she'd done?

Reyna's fears seemed to propel the gryphons faster and faster. It seemed like only minutes since they'd taken off before the subtle change in the wind alerted her that they were landing. Quickly snapping out of the dark places of her mind, she looked around realizing it was still dark. Phoebe had been right after all. It was morning, but there was only the faintest hint of light along the horizon in front of them. Thankfully, the beasts chose a gradual descent; perhaps they were being courteous, though Reyna had never heard that these creatures were very solicitous.

Below them, she could see a vast sea of light. _We must be over the city._ They were still too high to make out the shapes of buildings, but she got the impression they'd skirted well wide of the inner metropolitan area. Regardless, this city was huge, and the suburbs stretched for miles in every direction. Well, every direction but one; the one they were headed. She couldn't see the land or the ocean, but it was easy to tell where they met. It was uncanny to watch the lights just end, like the people had built right up to the edge of the world.

Their flight trajectory led them over a thin stretch of land that, though still awash with man-made light, was clearly less densely populated. As they flew lower, stretches of forest and farmland could be seen marking a clear change from the urban jungle they'd just avoided. A slight sense of relief crept over Reyna as she realized Olympus was now behind them and each wing beat led them further from it. She had no desire to tangle with the gods; the Titan she traveled with was hassle enough.

The reprieve was over quickly as the gryphons flared their wings and touched down heavily in a snow-covered field. Closing her eyes as fear took hold again, she sat motionless on her mount's back for several moments. She'd never been besieged by such a swarm of mixed emotions, and it struck her momentarily catatonic.

On the surface she was glad the wind was gone, she was glad they had left Olympus behind, it was going to be wonderful to get off the extremely broad back she'd been riding and stretch her legs. But once her feet touched the ground, the reality that she would have to face not only Annabeth, but probably Jason as well, would be set firm.

"Rey?" Bobby's voice sounded through her thoughts like he was speaking into a can. "Rey? Are you ok?" _What a loaded question._

"Yeah," she sighed, opening her eyes to find Bobby and Phoebe laying Percy gently on the ground next to the lead gryphon. Surveying their surroundings from her elevated position, there honestly wasn't much she could see in the early morning darkness. Regardless, it wasn't difficult to tell where they needed to go; the aura of power was unmistakable.

They'd landed in a dormant acreage near a country road. The fence between them and the road was just visible in the dim light and looked easy enough to slip through. Across the road was where they were headed; there was no doubt. A dark mass that had to have been a hill rose up to prevent viewing of whatever lay beyond, but Reyna knew they were there. Her magic twinged in response to powerful souls that lay sleeping over that hill.

"Can you see anything?"

"Not really," she replied truthfully. "But I can certainly feel it. We go that way." She lifted her arm and pointed across the road an up the hill. Phoebe, who obviously knew exactly where they were going, simply nodded in affirmation. Finally working up the courage to dismount, Reyna slid slowly to the ground. As soon as her feet hit the snow, the lead gryphon shifted restlessly, obviously eager to be on his way.

"Thank you," Bobby bowed before the avian face. The gryphon blinked slowly in acknowledgement before issuing forth another of its fierce cries. It wasn't as impassioned or thunderous as the call of acceptance that had shattered the peace of the Wyoming countryside earlier that evening, but it was still beautiful and terrible. The others responded in kind before jumping into the sky in a flattening down current of wind. A brief moment of panic crossed Reyna's thoughts as she watched them speed out of sight. How were they supposed to get back?

"Let's go," Phoebe's wind-hoarsened voice croaked. There was no great sense of urgency in the command, merely a desire to get out of the cold. "If we're lucky, the bird brains didn't wake any of the campers. It'll be easier if we can sneak straight into the Big House without drawing any attention. No sense getting people's hopes up if Salty Dog here is just going to die."

"Don't—don't say that. We've risked our lives and our friends' lives to get here. Don't say it's all for nothing." Reyna wasn't angry, just determined. The appeal of pessimism had always been clear to her, but this time around, there was no way to prepare for the disappointment if Percy were to die, so she refused to think it was possible. Delusional optimism was a first for Reyna.

"Fine, but we'd better go anyway. It's not getting any earlier." Being the biggest and strongest member of the party, Phoebe knelt down and slung Percy's body over her shoulder. "Come on, it's not far."

They set off through the knee-deep snow towards the road, the sense of power tingling along Reyna's spine getting stronger with each step. They took no outward precautions with their movements until they reached the fence. As they approached, Phoebe paused, her hand raised motioning them to stop.

Silence fell as Bobby's last footfall squelched through the wet snow, and Reyna watched as the Hunter looked first left, then right. Finally she closed her eyes and breathed deeply, likely searching for the scent of monsters. If there truly was a conclave of demigods over that hill, then it was safe to assume there were monsters lurking nearby. Just outside the barriers of the Legion's base was where you were most likely to encounter spawn of the underworld, so it was a safe bet the same was true here.

"Okay," Phoebe whispered breathlessly, "No monsters…other than Peleus, of course, and it doesn't look like anyone's standing guard. Let's go." She hefted Percy's body over the fence, leaning him against a post on the other side while she placed a foot on the lowest cross plank to propel herself across. Before she could swing her leg over, Bobby stopped her with a firm grip on her shoulder.

"I suppose you have a good reason for wanting to lose that hand. You seemed so adamant to keep it earlier." Her tone was low and menacing and the look in her eyes was deadly as she rounded on Bobby. To his credit, he stood his ground with only a modicum of fear in his eyes, and when he spoke his voice was firm.

"Who is this Peleus you keep mentioning?" he demanded, his resolve growing firmer. "Or should I ask, what is Peleus?" He obviously did not expect the grim smile that stole across Phoebe's face at his question. Any sense of bravado was washed away under that sadistic grin.

"You'll find out soon enough," she chortled mirthlessly. She didn't spend much time gloating over her secret as she turned quickly and vaulted over the fence, motioning them both to follow as she hoisted Percy over her shoulder once more. Again looking both directions down the road, she dashed across trailing Reyna and Bobby in her wake.

Once on the other side, Phoebe opted for speed rather than stealth, and Reyna saw no reason to argue. Just because she couldn't smell a monster nearby didn't mean there weren't any. Her own senses were clouded by the overarching aura of power from the other side of the hill.

As they ran quickly up the hill, a projection rising high above the summit came into view, like the spike on a World War I Prussian helmet. It didn't take a genius to realize it was a massive tree standing alone atop the rise like a sentinel. Reyna's steps slowed as she took in the sight of the pillar. Something about it captured her attention to the point where she barely noticed Bobby and Phoebe quickly outpacing her. She completely forgot why she was running under the intoxicating influence the tree possessed.

When its power finally stopped her, she was only about halfway up the hill. She was completely exposed even in the predawn darkness, but it didn't matter. Closing her eyes, she pushed her mind outward towards the magnificent column of force. It was only as her mind came in contact with the tree that she realized the tree was not actually the source of the power, nor was the power familiar to her. Through all of her training and magical pursuits, force points and wells always appeared blue under her mental searching. The energy coursing through the tree on the hill was the only time she had ever seen green.

Opening her eyes, she marveled at the strength of natural magic emanating from the tree, or more specifically what was hanging on the tree. Considering its origin, she wondered briefly how Bobby could possibly not be affected by it. There was no question in Reyna's mind now that Phoebe had been correct. This object, whatever it was, was their cure.

Slowly she resumed her climb, not worrying about speed. She needed a closer look at the tree. Vaguely she noticed Bobby and Phoebe's tracks led off to the right, well wide of her own target. She'd meet up with them in a minute; this couldn't wait.

One by one, her steps brought her close to her mark. She could see it now, wafting in the gentle morning breeze, hanging there like ripened fruit ready to be plucked. Even under her regular eyesight, it seemed to glow with its own light. How could she have missed seeing it earlier? It seemed so bright now. Fixated on what could only be the legendary Golden Fleece, flying there like a beacon, Reyna was left completely unprepared for the attack. She'd raised no barriers to protect herself, what harm could possibly come to her under the auspices of such awesome magic?

The impact shattered her world as sharp pain lanced across her chest and abdomen. The only sense that seemed to be working correctly was her hearing, and she sincerely wished it were otherwise. Deadly snarls and the snapping of jaws reached her ears as another buffeting collision sent her spiraling and rolling back down the hill. She came to rest a few yards away, face down in the snow. Judging from the searing pain, she suspected it would no longer be white and fluffy whenever she managed to lift herself up.

After several deep breaths, she was able to leverage her hands beneath her torso and push herself to her knees. No further attacks had come while she recovered, and giving her head a shake to clear the cobwebs, she looked back towards the tree and understood why. _So much for low hanging fruit_. There, silhouetted by the slowly lightening sky was the unmistakable form of a dragon.

Under normal circumstances, she would be dead by now. She deserved to be for letting her guard down so completely. But the dragon hung back, clearly protecting the Fleece and tree. With the realization that staying where she was would keep the predator at bay, her injuries decided to truly make themselves known. Reyna doubled over again as a wave of agony spread across her body. Lacerations aside, the force of the dragon's strikes had likely caused internal damage.

She didn't really trust that her new found healing abilities would work on her own body. It seemed counterintuitive that she could use her own energy to fix herself, but there didn't seem to be any other options. She quieted her mind and searched for the gateway she'd opened only the previous day. Pain coursed through her body, disturbing her concentration.

Eventually she managed to push aside the agony, but as she reached for the magic, she heard a light step in the snow behind her. Hoping it was Bobby or Phoebe coming to check on her, she turned towards the sound, stopping short as a knife point gouged dangerously into the skin of her neck.

"I see you've met Peleus, Thief." The voice was firm and definitely female, yet despite its harshness, Reyna could sense a deep sorrow hidden below the surface. She didn't have enough strength left after a battle, miles of hiking and a sleepless night of flying to fight against both her injuries and her captor.

Left with no alternatives, she felt her mind slipping out of consciousness. As she fought for purchase, she looked up along the arm bearing the bronze knife to see the one set of eyes she'd dreaded most. Resignation slackened her grip on awareness as she finally took in the beautiful face that surrounded those intense storm-grey eyes.

"Annabeth," Reyna sighed watching surprise steal across the girl's face. Spots of bright white and stark black swam in Reyna's vision. As her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed, she managed one more phrase. "I—I brought him home."

* * *

_Omake_

_Alternate/Extended Ending_

She sat upright in bed, startled awake by something. Looking around the darkened cabin, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Her brothers and sisters were all still sleeping in the pre-dawn darkness. Several bunks over, she heard Malcolm moan something about bananas and whipped cream along with a name that sounded suspiciously like 'Drew'. Of all the things she never needed to know about her brother… The sublime scenario of her slumbering siblings' serene suspirations seemed supremely suspicious. _Alliteration FTW!_ she thought, but in all seriousness, something had woken her up.

Looking out the window, she couldn't see much. The moon had set hours ago and there was only a faint hint of grey off to the east. The hushed morning air turned her thoughts to Percy…ah, hell, what didn't turn her thoughts to Percy? He'd been missing for nearly two whole weeks! A whole fortnight without him; it was torture.

Sure there was Travis; he was always good for the kinky stuff. And Leo could always be counted on for a little S&M distraction. And that Roman guy Jason was pretty exotic, all about precision and doing the job right. But they just weren't Percy. She sighed, giving up sleep as a bad job and clambered into some jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket.

Walking out of the Athena cabin, her feet turned towards the Big House, as they always did since Percy had disappeared. Truth be told, Chiron was getting pretty annoyed with her. Wandering in five to twenty times a day to ask if there'd been any news could be a real pain in the ass. _Awesome pun, score!_

As she crossed the mess hall, a series of falcon calls pierced the night, stopping her in her tracks. Hackles raised, she loosened her knife and made a beeline for the source of the noise. Something strange was afoot; birds of prey weren't awake at this hour. The ground met her face as she tripped over something invisible, a firm sense of parental admonishment ringing in her head. "Sorry, mom."

Picking herself up off the ground, she continued on her way towards the edge of camp. Something directed her towards Thalia's tree; the Golden Fleece was definitely the most valuable possession at camp and it was a target of theft. Peleus was a good guard dragon, but he could be lazy from time to time. As she reached the tree, sure enough, the stupid reptile was conked out, and there was a thief trudging up the hill with a vapid expression on her face. _When will they learn?_

Silently, Annabeth moved to circle around behind the intruder. The girl appeared to be about her own age with long dark hair, though it was hard to tell exactly in the dim light. She obviously had no clue there was a dragon sleeping less than twenty feet in front of her as she trudged absentmindedly towards the tree, staring vacantly at the Fleece. Pausing briefly to see if Peleus would actually do his job, Annabeth sighed when she heard the distinct sound of a reptilian snore. _It's never easy, is it?_

She crept closer on silent feet—impressive in the snow if you think about it—though why she bothered she didn't know. As oblivious as this girl was, a freight train could have snuck up on her. Still she inched nearer until she was within arms reach. Pulling her knife out of its sheath, she brought her arm up and laid the point on the thief's jugular. "That's far enough."

"Shit!"

"Shit is right. Now turn around, slowly." Loosening the knife point, Annabeth allowed the other girl to turn 180 degrees before reapplying the pressure. "You're welcome."

"For what?" The girl had deep blue eyes that seemed to shine of their own accord. _Great, another Hecate kid._

"I just saved your life." The girl's dumbfounded expression showed she still didn't understand. "Yo! Peleus, wake up you stupid mutt!" The dragon choked on his next snore and raised his head, eyes blinking blearily.

"Holy shit! A dragon!" _Bravo, Captain Obvious._ "Um, thanks? Kinda hard to be too grateful though, all things considered." The girl paused for a moment until a spark of recognition lit her face. "You must be Annabeth." _Now how the fuck did she know that? I've never seen this girl in my life._

"That's me. Now, who the hell are you, and why are you trying to steal the Fleece?" She could see the girl struggling as though she'd just been asked to solve the Schrödinger equation. Obviously not the sharpest knife in the drawer.

"I'm not—"

"Reyna, what's taking you so long?" The question caught Annabeth off guard. She hadn't heard anyone else approaching, but the voice sounded vaguely familiar. Whipping her head around, she stared open-mouthed at the second thief. "Annabeth?"

"Phoebe?" The Hunter was carrying something. Something large and suspiciously Percy shaped. "Is that—" She was rudely cut off by a backhanded slap to the head. Apparently, this Reyna chick had some spunk after all. As she regained her balance, she saw Phoebe darting her eyes back and forth between Reyna and Annabeth, grinning mischievously. Wheeling around, Annabeth stared at Reyna with what she hoped was a sufficient amount of murderous intent. "Bitch!"

"Whore!" Reyna shot back.

"CAT-FIGHT!" Phoebe yelled with glee, effectively rousing the entire camp, all of the campers appearing nearly instantaneously around Thalia's tree.

"Slut!"

"Street-walker!"

"Hussy!"

"Floozy!"

"Scarlet woman!"

"Place your bets!" Travis called out in the crowd.

"$50 on Annabeth!"

"$75 on the new chick!"

"$200," Jason called out, "on Annabeth."

"Fuck you, Jason!" Reyna paused from her slander.

"No thanks! Used goods, you know."

"Ha! I was right, Cum-dumpster!" Annabeth interjected.

"Whatever, Paris Hilton!"

"Aphrodite!"

"Hey!" Piper piped up.

"Shut up!" Reyna and Annabeth simultaneously rounded on her with fire exploding in their eyes before resuming their epithets.

Travis spotted Lou Ellen in the crowd and rushed over. "How about we make this interesting?" Smirking evilly, the daughter of Hecate began her spell.

"What the fuck?" Annabeth shouted realizing she was now standing in a giant mud pit. Scanning the gathered onlookers, she spotted Lou Ellen right away with that plastered on look of innocence. She was thinking quickly of ways to make that girl's life miserable when all such thoughts were wiped away by a full body check and a splat into the warm mud. _So this is how it's gonna be, eh? Fine!_

"Alright, Bitch, bring it!" Something was definitely wrong with this mud pit. Every time she hit Reyna or got hit, their clothes started exploding. She wasn't against a little exhibitionism, but from a practical standpoint, this was going to cost her a fortune. Designer jeans aren't cheap, you know!

"Double or nothing folks!" Connor yelled weaving through the crowd.

"Double down on Reyna!" Phoebe chimed in.

"$300 on Annabeth," Percy shouted. The crowd went silent as the wrestlers paused, all eyes wide and staring incredulously at the very animated and cogent Percy Jackson.

"Percy, you're alive!" Reyna shouted, pushing Annabeth off her into the mud and running towards where Percy sat.

"Percy!" Annabeth called, struggling to rise in the slippery quagmire. "Come back here, Slore. He's mine!" She managed to grab hold of Reyna's ankle, forcing a face plant into the mud along with another explosion of fabric. They were both pretty much naked at this point, but she didn't care. Percy was back and well and he could see her in whatever clothing he wanted.

"Percy, how—?" Bobby asked.

"You mean, you wouldn't wake up from the dead to see this?"

"Point taken." Annabeth and Reyna were back to squabbling in the mud, and as much as Percy was enjoying the show, he figured it was about time to wrap things up before any permanent damage could be done. Rising to his feet, he walked to the edge of the pit.

"Ladies! Ladies, please!" he cajoled. "There's enough Percy to go around, I promise! Now what do you say we go get you girls cleaned up for dessert."

"Depends, what's on the menu?" Annabeth replied somewhat frostily at the notion he was willing to share himself.

"It's a Jackson family special!"

"Yeah, Jackson's famous Blue Balls." She and Reyna each grabbed a handful of mud and on a silent signal hurled them straight at Percy's unsuspecting face. The massive explosion of clothes left him standing there naked to the breeze except for the mud dripping down from his head.

"Now that's what I'm talking about!"

"Go back to bed, Clovis!"

Before Percy could figure out where he'd gone wrong, the two girls were walking off together toward the showers, arm in arm, giggling like old school mates.

_-fin-_

* * *

**A/N: Haha! That was fun! Sorry it couldn't be the real ending, no matter how much my beta begged. Thanks for reading everyone! Part 2 will begin shortly. I've been pushing to this point for so long, I need to collect my thoughts on where it's going from here. I have a good idea, but I need to do a little more research. I doubt there will be much delay. See you all soon!**_  
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